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

Cliffwood Methodist Episcopal Church
Cliffwood, Monmouth County

But for the old colored-glass windows one might mistake this for a contemporary chapel. In profile it is very much like a half-dozen mid-nineteenth century churches in the county, but the aluminum siding and the skinny little steeple raised some doubts, as did the name of the current congregation. A old photograph taken in 1907, however, shows the colored-glass windows, and that confirms for me that it is indeed the original 1854 church, built largely through the labor of the membership. The church in the old photograph is the same four-bay deep building we see today. There was an open belfry and an entry vestibule, which was added about the turn of the century. The church was struck by lightning in 1899 and had to be practically rebuilt. These windows almost certainly date to that time. The Methodist congregation folded in 1982 and the building was sold to a community church.

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Copyright (c) 2005 Frank L. Greenagel