Former Magnolia United Methodist Church - Magnolia, NJ
N 39° 51.345 W 075° 01.806
18S E 497425 N 4411747
This church was not always Methodist but for the last 150 years it has served the town as such. This is a little known and forgotten church and church yard cemetery which is located on a main artery, but hardly gets noticed anymore.
Waymark Code: WM9J76
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 08/25/2010
Views: 3
The church appears abandoned and the congregation has moved into another building across the street. The cornerstone for the church is on the bottom left hand side of the church. It is a white block set into siding which was probably some sort of stone or brickwork before the front was redone. According to this sign and the cornerstone, the church was founded 10 years after the cemetery was established. The cornerstone reads:
The
Christian Covenant
Church of Greenland
Built 1858
The church is white with green window trim, single-room, old rural style church with a small bell tower rising slightly over the right side. I also noticed some Gothic influences in the tops of the windows. Beyond these details, I noticed nothing unusual or remarkable about the structure.
I found some references to this place, but they are vague and I found the history to be rather sketchy. Today, the church is located in Magnolia but back then it was called Greenland, a fact up until now, unknown to me. Several sites list this as a Methodist church. Even an article in out local rag, the Courier Post, found HERE lists the church as a Methodist in their Magnolia history timeline. It reads 1858: Cornerstone for ME Covenant Church, which later becomes Magnolia United Methodist Church, is laid.. Also there was this blurb, about landmarks in town: Magnolia United Methodist Church on Evesham Road is the oldest building in the community. Still held together by the original oak pegs in its wood frame, the building's cornerstone was laid in 1858 for what was then called ME Covenant Church (Same Source) I think what is most likely is this became a Methodist Church after a year or so. in 1972, a building was erected across the street which now houses the Magnolia United Methodist Church.
There is a sign at the cemetery which reads Greenland Cemetery Est 1848. The cemetery is to the left of the church. I counted approximately 130 interments. There are also a few to the rear and some out of place ones to the right. For a list of burials in this cemetery, go HERE
As already stated, this town was not always called Magnoia. Magnolia wasn't incorporated until 1915. Before that, the area was originally settled by Quakers and was called Greenland because of its heavy deposits of green marl, a slimy, green clay used for fertilizer.