Monmouth and Ocean's oldest churches hold secrets of the Shore waiting to be revealed

Some of the oldest active buildings in Monmouth and Ocean counties are churches that date back to colonial times. In fact, church burial grounds and historical documents are some of the best records of the lives of the people who were the early settlers of Monmouth and Ocean counties.

Here is a short list of a few of the oldest but still active churches where members still gather to hear sermons on Sundays, continuing a legacy that is over 300 years old.

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St. Peter's Church, Freehold

This active Episcopalian church at the corner of Throckmorton Street and Main Street (Route 537) was originally the Quaker Meeting House in Topanemus in present-day Marlboro. Topanemus has a Lenni Lenape root and roughly translates to "a place of plentiful fish and fowl."

The first service of this congregation was held on Oct. 10, 1702, in Marlboro. The congregation was led by the Rev. George Keith, a surveyor who drew the Keith Line, which separated West Jersey from East Jersey when New Jersey was divided into two proprietor groups from 1664 to 1702.

Keith however, fell out of favor with the Quakers and was kicked out. Back in England, he converted to Anglican and returned to the colony on a missionary mission. He failed to convert the Crosswicks Meeting House in Burlington County to the Anglican faith, but was successful at Topanemus.

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The congregation at Freehold received its charter from King George II in 1736. The land for the church was purchased in 1738, but construction did not begin until 1771. The architect was Robert Smith of Philadelphia, who had designed Nassau Hall at Princeton University and Christ Church and Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia. Construction was interrupted by the Revolutionary War but was completed by 1794. It opened for worship in 1797.

The Topanemus site remained an active cemetery into the 19th century, before it grew neglected. In the 1970s, the remaining tombstones were removed from Topanemus and placed at St. Peter's Church, where they remain behind a gate but viewable to passersby.

In the 1960s, a young Bruce Springsteen performed with his first band The Castiles at the church's teen social club Left Foot.

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Christ Church, Shrewsbury

The Rev. George Keith is also responsible for the founding of the parish of Christ Church in Shrewsbury in 1702. In fact, both the Freehold church and the Shrewsbury Church received their official charters from King George II in the same year, 1738. Coincidentally, Robert Smith was also the architect of the church as well.

Keith was dispatched by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in London, held the congregation's first services in 1702 in the home of Lewis Morris, later royal governor of New Jersey. Morris can be regarded as one of the forces behind the founding of the parish, since it was he who requested a missionary according to the church's published history on its website.

The parish's first church was erected in 1706 through the acquisition of a small parcel of land at the present-day intersection of Broad Street and Sycamore Avenue. That was replaced by the present historic church building, which was built between 1769 to 1774.

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During the American Revolution, the church was used as barracks by Patriot soldiers. Since the church was a symbol of the British Crown, these soldiers shot at the pulpit and at the orb and crown on the steeple atop the church building. The church retains the damaged orb and a wood-embedded musketball.

The church also displays the Vinegar Bible, so-called due to the misprinting of the Parable of the Vineyard, which was in use until 1916. The was bible printed in Oxford in 1717 and presented to the church in 1752.

Old Tennent Presbyterian Church, Manalapan

This congregation dates back to 1692 and the original church was located at Wickatunk depot, located in the present-day boundary of Marlboro. Wickatunk was first surveyed by George Keith, also.

The first church was located on a spot called Free Hill. But in 1731, the congregation left Free Hill and re-established itself at is present site in Manalapan, which then still part of Freehold. Walter Ker, the congregation's first ordained elder, sold the congregation the first acre and a half for the price of one shilling.

The location was then named White Oak Hill, due to the number of white oaks that surrounded the building location. A one-story church building was built and was in use during 1731. The growth of membership and visitors was so quick, that in 1751, the structure was remodeled and a gallery was added and most of the 1731 building was incorporated into the new sanctuary.

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During the First Great Awakening, a religious revival in colonies in the 1730s, preachers such as George Whitfield, who boasted a booming voice that Benjamin Franklin said loud enough to be heard by a crowd of 30,000, and Jonathan Edwards, known for his scathing sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," both preached here.

The church served as a hospital during the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, and legend has it that one of the wooden pews retains a bloodstain from that time. The Patriot privateer Joshua Huddy, known for raids on the homes of British Loyalists, was hanged by British Loyalists in 1782 and is buried in the church graveyard that surrounds the still-active sanctuary.

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Cedar Grove United Methodist Church, Toms River

Cedar Grove United Methodist Church of Toms River has been in continual service to the community since the mid-1800s, according to the church's history on its website.

Although small in physical size, the congregation consists of faithful members with deep-seated roots in the local area. Many families have ancestors who had established residence long before the church was formally formed. The church was formerly known as the Methodist Episcopal Church at Cedar Grove and was incorporated on Jan. 10, 1853.

In addition to the church building, a fellowship hall was built to accommodate classes, activities and social gatherings. The current building stands on the site and is used on a frequent basis. The grounds of the church are also sacred as home to its own cemetery.

The Cedar Grove Cemetery was formerly named the Applegate Cemetery established around 1800 by Joseph Applegate, a farmer with land in the area of Bay Avenue and Cedar Grove Road. The grave markers indicate that many buried there were soldiers in the Revolutionary War period. The grounds continue to be maintained by members of the Applegate family.

Little Egg Harbor Friends Meeting, Tuckerton

Tuckerton was settled in 1699 by Quakers, formally known as the Religious Society of Friends, and the original meetinghouse was established in 1703. The current meeting house was built in 1863 and replaced the earlier 1700s meeting house at this spot.

According to the Tuckerton Historical Society, The Friends Burial Ground, on the rise to the east of Lake Pohatcong, is located on the grounds of the Friends Meeting House. It is the oldest Tuckerton Cemetery, dating back to the early part of the 1700s. Most of the burial sites do not contain markers and the written records have been lost, so there is no complete listing of those buried there.

John Mathis is thought to be among those buried here. According to the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mathis owned a lot of land in the Little Egg Harbor and established a thriving business in shipbuilding, operated fisheries, and lent money to individuals and the fledgling American government during the Revolutionary War. However, loans repaid by the government in currency of depreciated currency resulted in heavy losses to his estate. Mathis died in 1779, in Tuckerton, at the age of 88. His old homestead in nearby New Gretna is now owned by the Viking Yacht Co.

When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; [email protected].