Belfry @ Tabernacle Baptist Church - Ocean City, NJ
N 39° 16.847 W 074° 34.538
18S E 536601 N 4348021
This is a closed bell tower giving rise to a steeple. It has louvers and played on the hour. This baptist church recently celebrated 100 years of existence in this building according to the cornerstone found high above the front left corner.
Waymark Code: WM6R5Z
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 07/11/2009
Views: 5
The bell tower adds small town charm to this church. I have visited many other Baptist churches and this design seem common amongst turn-of-the-century Baptist churches. An interesting detail about this tower and steeple is it had been dismantled, moved and reassembled over a hundred years ago!
The church was moved a grand total of two blocks or approximately 500 feet. From what I was told, the building was taken apart, put back together with a new cornerstone laid to commemorate its new resting place, so to speak. Whatever stone this date was etched in is now almost unreadable. I believed it was 1908 and confirmed my guess by reading the sign out front and the Ocean City book referenced below. There is some words on both sides of the brick but I was unable to discern them and the cornerstone is much too high for me to have gotten an etching.
Some of the architecture is Gothic-like as seen in the windows. Two Star of David emblems exist as stained glass in the front and left windows. Painted white, the church is harmonious with this historic district adding architectural integrity. The church is a contributing structure to this historic district.
Although this church does not have an official website I did find a mention of it in Ocean City New Jersey By Robert J. Esposito, page 40. This is how I confirmed what the sign said out front of the church and how I learned more details of this relocation. It reads:
"Tabernacle Baptist Church. Founders moved this building to Eighth Street and West Avenue in 1908. It previously stood at Eighth Street and Central Avenue, where it first served as a Methodist church. The Baptist church organization itself dates to 1896, when parishioners held their first meetings in the Knights of Pythias hall at Seventh Street and Asbury Avenue, thereby making it the oldest African-American congregation in Ocean City. (F.J. Esposito.)"