Reformed Dutch Church of New Hurley - New Hurley, NY - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

The story begins when the area of New Hurley was only sparsely settled, 8 years before the first shots were fired in the Revolutionary war in September of 1767. Up until that time the settlers in New Hurley worshiped at the Shawangunk Reformed church which was located on the other side of the Wallkill River. This was no real problem until the bridge that linked the two sides of the river washed away leaving the souls of the faithful in the New Hurley area unnourished. Seeking for resolve the farmers on the New Hurley side of the river approached the Shawangunk Consistory (or leading board) with the idea of building another church on their side of the river. After the Shawangunk Consistory studied the request it flatly denied it on the grounds "there being danger of causing scandalous reproach and defection which might prove irreparable". In short they seem to have been very concerned that a new church start would severely drain their membership and resources. They urged the brothers and sisters of the New Hurley area to be," patiently content with the present divine arrangement." The brothers and sisters in the New Hurley Areas did not share the Shawangunk consistory's perception and 2 years later made a second request to which the Shawangunk consistory did not reply.

Not knowing what else to do the people of New Hurley appealed to the agency that superintends a group of local churches in the same general area or region known as the Classis, (an old dutch nautical term which means fleet). A committee of the Classis was appointed to investigate the possibly of granting permission for this new church to start and after careful deliberation concluded that "the aforesaid community in a friendly manner be permitted to accomplish their desire to be constituted into a church" with the condition that they locate their church away from the Walkill river. Consequently the present location was chosen by a majority vote of the neighborhood. The exact date of organization was November 8, 1770. The land upon which the Church sits was purchased on December 21, 1773 from Denne Relyea for the sum of 5 shillings. That same winter the trees that stood on the property were cut down to form the timbers that formed the foundation and frame erected the following summer. The building contained no stove or chimney. Heat was provided only by little footstoves owned and carried to church by individual members.

In 1811 New Hurley’s first sanctuary was enlarged by an addition of twenty feet to what was the rear of the building making it one of the few churches with a width being greater than its length. This renovation was almost destroyed the following year by fire when, on the occasion of Commander Perry’s victory against the British on Lake Erie members of the church were a bit zealous and careless in their celebration.

The above history was taken from the church's website - please read the entire history at the link supplied below.

Street address: 1145 Rt. 208 Walkill, NY USA 12589 County / Borough / Parish: Ulster County Year listed: 1982 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1825-1849 Historic function: Funerary, Religion Current function: Religion Privately owned?: yes Season start / Season finish: From: 01/01/2008 To: 12/31/2008 Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.