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 Baptist Church
Hornerstown, Upper Freehold Township, Monmouth County

Hornerstown is located on the line of the old Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad and was the site of a couple of mills in the 1830s. About that time, according to Ellis, “some families living here embraced the doctrines of the Mormons. A church was erected [by the Mormons] which was later sold to the Catholics,” and moved to New Egypt. The Mormons also moved to New
Egypt where they erected a church. Later the children of the early
Mormons adopted a schismatic version of the faith which abjured polygamy and claimed to be the original followers of Joseph Smith. By the 1880s they were still holding regular meetings in town but were down to 10 members. About 1870 the few Baptists in town purchased a store and fitted it up for a chapel, and then in 1894 erected the present building.
     The steeply-pitched roofs of the nave and the several gables together with the tall square tower are generally Gothic in manner, although there are no Gothic arches anywhere; the building is a simple wooden-frame construction. The narrow rectangular windows, little more than slots, are a distinctive feature.

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