Pinelands United Methodist Church - Pleasant Mills (Hammonton), NJ - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

Beautiful country church kind of in the middle of nowhere. There is a large cemetery located here as well including a veterans memorial. The building is a single story, no nonsense structure lacking a church bell, steeple, stained glass and the other usual amenities one would see at a church. I supposed this can be attributed to a lack of money during the beginning of the 19th century. Interestingly enough, there are tow entrances which were probably gender separated at one time.

The original church on this site was built in 1776-77 by Scottish Covenaters (Presbyterians) who had settled at Pleasant Mills. According to the tradition of that time, the church was the first building to be constructed and was built between sunrise and sundown. The original church had log walls, a thatched roof and a packed earthen floor. In 1760 Captain Elijah Clark replaced the first log church with a new one made of squared logs, a shingled roof and a board floor.

By 1808 the increased activity at Batsto Furnace made the old Meeting House too small for the growing village. When Francis Asbury, the first Methodist Bishop in the U.S., preached at the Meeting House in 1808, he advised that the building should be rebuilt and enlarged. The construction was completed in December 1808. Bishop Asbury returned the next Spring to dedicate the Church building on April 21, 1809. The church has been in continuous service since the day of its dedication. The church recently celebrated its 200 year anniversary.

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