The authoritative source on
  early churches of New Jersey

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We've created a database and photographic inventory on more than half the 18th & 19th century churches in the state and add to it each month. We welcome and solicit all contributions and suggestions from our visitors.

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   Photographic Inventory

Ardena Baptist Church
Ardena, Monmouth County

There is a curious story associated with this church—there was an old dilapidated Presbyterian meetinghouse on the property and attached were many old graves exposed to intrusion and desecration. A petition of citizens asked that the property be given or sold to a church that would promise to maintain the burial ground. When the legislature authorized that in the 1850s, the newly organized Baptist church obtained the property and built the present structure.
     It is a basic meetinghouse plan with a shallow-pitched roof, tall rectangular windows on the sides and round arch windows in front. The belfry is elaborate and there are minarets on the corners of the entry vestibule. The burial grounds are extensive and well maintained.

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Copyright (c) 2005 Frank L. Greenagel