For motorists whizzing by on Route 1 at Washington Road, the Princeton Baptist Church of Penns Neck may seem nothing more than a blur in the rear-view mirror. Those who attend services there on Sunday, however, may hear not only the word of God but also the echoes of more than two centuries of West Windsor history. The church will commemorate the 200th anniversary of its sanctuary — and the 225th anniversary of its congregation — in a weekend of activities on Saturday and Sunday, September 8 and 9.
The highlight of the weekend will be the morning worship service on Sunday, September 9, at 10:30 a.m., at which former pastor Reverend Ralph O. Wagner will preach the sermon. Reverend Lee B. Spitzer, regional pastor of the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, will be rededicating the church and the congregation to further ministry in the community and the world in the years to come.
Former Pastor Reverend William K. Webb and present Pastor Reverend Peter S. Ely will also officiate, and other former pastors are expected to join the congregation. Two families will also be honored for their long-time service to the church. They are Dick and Lynne Stives, former West Windsor residents who now live in Titusville, and John and Pat Foltz of Hamilton.
“Those driving along Route 1 just north of Washington Road will note that the church sanctuary has just been repainted to look its best on the occasion of its bicentennial,” says John Roeder, a West Windsor resident, church treasurer, and longtime member of the church. “The public is always invited to participate in the activities of the church and is extended a special invitation to join in the commemorative worship service on September 9.” The church sanctuary can be accessed from both Route 1 North or from the church’s address, 261 Washington Road.
Several histories have been written about the church. Frank Updike wrote one for a previous anniversary of the sanctuary and two articles for Broadside, the newsletter of the Historical Society of West Windsor. Ursula Brecknell wrote one for the application to the National Register of Historic Sites.
The church was founded in 1787 by Reverend Peter Wilson, pastor of the Hightstown Baptist Church. Services were held in the homes of members including John Flock of Lawrenceville, John Campbell of Princeton, and John Hights of Penns Neck for 25 years. The sanctuary was dedicated on December 5, 1812. There were 36 members, 14 men and 22 women. It was a sizable proportion of the families in the area.
The 6,500 acres known as Penns Neck included the area between Millstone River (aqueduct at the border of West Windsor and Plainsboro), Stony Brook (Carnegie Lake), Bear Brook (Grover’s Mill Pond), the Assunpink Creek (feeds Mercer Lake), and west to Quakerbridge and Province Line roads. The area was known as Williamsburgh or Williamsborough until about 1830. The name Penns Neck was probably in honor of William Penn.
Early West Windsor was part of Middlesex County. The Township of Windsor split into East and West Windsor in 1797. “Life in a small farming community around the mid nineteenth century demanded a closely knit family life. And so it must have been at Penns Neck,” wrote Updike in Broadside. “For those who were devout members of the church, there can be no question but that their major concerns were living according to the precepts of their religion.”
It was not until 1804, when the turnpike from Trenton to New Brunswick was planned and subsequently built, that Penns Neck began to grow. The first buildings to be built were the church and the Red Lion Inn, and they created the community. William Kovenhoven built the Red Lion Inn, a tavern that has served as the parsonage since 1879. He sold an acre of land for one dollar to a flock of Baptists to build a house of worship and a burial yard. Trustees were Joseph Stout, Ezekiel R. Wilson, William Vaughn, and Joseph Grover. Elias Bailey, the lead carpenter, created the frame building. In 1818 the congregation raised $500 to pay off a debt and finished the house the following year.
“This is the crossroads where William and Mary Kovenhoven cast their lot in the late 1700s and it is still the site of the church and the old taverns,” wrote Updike in 1991. “Now, as their second century is drawing to a close, they remain, more than ever, the only real links with that small village known as Williams bourrough.”
The name Kovenhoven was Anglicized to Conover, and there are several gravestones bearing those names. Updike discovered graves of Mary Kovenhoven, William Kovenhoven, and a Kovenhaven child, though not all the graves are legible. The cemetery is still in use today.
One of the first pastors was offered $100 a year and the promise of 25 scholars at $2 a quarter. The Sabbath school, focusing on the memorization of scripture and catechisms, was established in 1819 and reported 46 pupils, a superintendent, and a staff of 7 teachers. “Likely this was the closest thing to any formal education that some of these students ever received,” wrote Updike in Broadside, 1990.
The church was liberal in giving women the right to vote on church business matters between 1819 and 1821 — but accused some members of the crime of dancing a few years later.
The church was the center of the community, which in 1834 included 12 houses, a store, two taverns, and the church. The church records held a lot of information. “In the 1840s the church women collected $40 toward a new stove and the congregation instructed the treasurer to add whatever sum was needed to complete the purchase,” writes Updike. “The outlines of holes for the stovepipes can still be seen in the chimneys in the church interior.”
The church had a large turnover of pastors and to increase membership and change from a country church they built a new church on 10 Canal Street (now Alexander Street) in Princeton. The land was given to them by R.C. Stockton of Princeton. According to Updike a resolution was adopted on August 3, 1850. “Resolved that in the providence of God we do believe the time has come when this church should build a house of worship in the borough of Princeton and there have the center of our laboure [sic].”
Another resolution came about on October 30, 1851, when 23 members stayed and created the West Windsor Particular Baptist Church. They continued to have services to meet the conditions of the original deed from Kovenhoven but were not successful and folded in 1859.
In 1874 the Princeton people returned and the congregation was renamed the Princeton Baptist Church of Penns Neck. By then the church had a leaking roof, the plastered walls were damaged, and winds came in through the clapboards. Repairs and structural changes were made using the funds obtained from the sale of the Princeton Church in 1877.
“Over the years, the old sanctuary fell into disrepair and in the early 1870s it was reported that the roof leaked and that the wind blew through holes in the siding and plaster,” writes Frank Updike, in 1987. “When the renovation was undertaken in 1877, all of these problems were remedied. At that time a new vestibule was added along with a tower, and the building was shifted so that it stood perpendicular to the road. The present sanctuary stands today at the same spot.” A belfry steeple with a spire and a Greek revival look was also added at the front entrance. It is thought that the current windows date from this time. Twelve feet were added to the length for a vestibule.
Horses were an important part of life and one early minister asked for food and fodder for his horse. In 1885, a row of 15 horse and carriage sheds was added. “Attending church at this time meant going by horse and carriage (or wagon) and many older people can remember from their youth the rows of sheds that stood by rural churches and chapels,” wrote Updike in Broadside in 1991. A fire destroyed the sheds and a barn in 1894, but new sheds and buildings were erected.
Sue Parris of Penns Neck sent in a photo of the graveyard side of the church. “Unfortunately, it’s not dated but it has to be pre-1955 because the steeple is still intact. The steeple was damaged in the 1955 hurricane, so a carpenter and a church member who lived on Mather Avenue removed the top part of the steeple and made a dining room table out of the wood. The extension that was built onto the back of the church over some of the really old Revolutionary War-era graves does not appear in this photo. And the shadow to the left was probably the stable that predated the Christian Education building built in 1963.
“My mother, Louise Connolly, 96, is the oldest living member of the church. She is too frail to attend anymore, but her memory is still excellent,” says Parris. “She has stories like when Route 1 was two lanes and the church had a big enough front lawn to hold strawberry festivals. I didn’t actually attend there growing up because my grandmother had a kerfuffle with the then-minister and took us to a church elsewhere.”
The Red Lion Inn changed hands many times and was called the White Horse in the mid-1800s. Most of the trade came from the local community and became a place of political campaigning, elections, and auctions. The decrease of travelers using the inn may have been due to new routes via the train line, the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and the Princeton Turnpike. When the Red Lion Inn was acquired in 1879 it became the parsonage used by the minister for his family. The pastor also was given the use of the barn and a plot of land to garden.
The building was readied for the pastor by men from the congregation cleaning, papering, painting, and more. The cost was $500. “I moved into it with my family and we lived happily for years in it,” wrote L.O. Grenelle, the pastor. “This is the next best thing the church has ever done, to the erection of the house of worship.”
The parsonage, also used as a social hall, was repaired and altered many times and two porches were added. The house, made into duplex apartments in 1925, became a source of income.
Wrote Updike in 1991: “Except for the fact that the parsonage had to be moved in 1929 to accommodate the initial widening of Route 1 and the church had extensive renovations in 1877, both would still be very easily recognized by the Schencks and Kovenhovens who lived here in the early 1800s.”
Bicentennial Picnic, Princeton Baptist Church of Penns Neck, Princeton Golf Club, West Windsor. Saturday, September 8, 4 p.m. 609-532-3084.
Bicentennial, Princeton Baptist Church of Penns Neck, 261 Washington Road, West Windsor. Sunday, September 9, 10:30 a.m. service with sermon by former pastor Ralph O. Wagner. Lee B. Spitzer, regional pastor of the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, will rededicate the church and the congregation. Former pastor William K. Webb and present pastor Peter S. Ely will also officiate. A catered dinner honoring several long-time families follows the service at 12:30 p.m. 609-532-3084.
