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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Port Washington Union Church
Rumson, Monmouth County

The congregation began as a union church—a minister encouraged
Methodists, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians to attend common services, and he built the meetinghouse to accommodate them about 1842 when Rumson Neck was called Port Washington or Oceanic. It seemed the Presbyterians bought the building (or simply took over) in 1855. They used the building until 1886, when they built their own church only a block away. This building was then called the Oceanic Lyceum, and was rented to a number of organizations for a variety of functions. It was doubled in size in
1915 by extensions to the rear, and in 1956, it was sold to the Borough,
and is now called Bingham Hall. There is a lovely Colonial Williamsburg-type garden on the south side of the building. The building is a more-or-less typical small meetinghouse with a projecting tower intersecting a modest pediment. The shallowpitched roof and the pediment are characteristic of Greek Revival, as are the tall rectangular windows. An oculus and louvered openings for belfry add to its classical dignity.

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Copyright (c) 2005 Frank L. Greenagel