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

First Presbyterian Church
Atlantic Highlands, Monmouth County

Atlantic Highlands was originally called Portland Point when a village containing 10 lots was laid out in 1667. Court was held there several times during the next few years, but the village did not thrive. Two hundred years later, in 1877, a dock was built for a steamer to New York for freight and passengers, but it was after 1881 when the Atlantic Highlands Association was organized by a group which included 20 Protestant ministers, that the town started to grow. Ellis notes that a Methodist church, a pavilion and a large auditorium were built for religious services in the summer. The style is vaguely Gothic, owing mostly to the Gothic-arch windows front and side, and the tall elongated pyramidal roof of the tower. It is essentially a meetinghouse with its tower offset to the east corner of the front. Centered on the gable end is a large Gothic-arch window. Entry is through the tower, but there is also a side entrance to the basement where there are rooms for Sunday School.

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