Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church

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Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church
Rocky Spring Church pulpit.jpg
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LocationRocky Spring Road, approximately 0.5 miles (0.80 km) northwest of Funk Road, Letterkenny Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 39°59′19″N77°40′35″W / 39.98861°N 77.67639°W / 39.98861; -77.67639
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1794
ArchitectBeatty, Walter
Architectural styleGeorgian
NRHP reference No. 94000430 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 13, 1994

The Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church is a historic American Presbyterian church located in Letterkenny Township, Pennsylvania, United States.

Contents

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. [1]

History and architectural features

Built in 1794, this historic structure is a 1+1⁄2-story, four by six-bay, brick, Georgian-style building that measures forty-eight feet by sixty feet, and has a gable roof. The interior of the church includes two ten-plate stoves, brick aisleways, a crude ladder leading to a loft, and wooden pews that are long and narrow with high straight-backed seating. The ends of the pews are carved with the names of the previous occupants identifying the military ranks they held during the Revolutionary War.

Rocky Springs Church was a pay-for-pew church that required members to sign a financial agreement between the trustees of the church and the pew holders requiring an annual fee for occupancy of the pew. [2]

The Church's pulpit is circular in form and positioned above the pews giving the speaker full view of the congregation. Above the pulpit is an oval-shaped canopy or sounding board.

Five acres of land to build the church were acquired by warrant on November 6, 1792. Trustees of the congregation [3] who acquired the land upon which to build the church included: George Matthews, Esq., James McCalmont, Esq., James Ferguson, Esq., James Culbertson, Esq., and Samuel Culbertson. The property includes the church cemetery; the oldest gravestone dates to the 1780s. [4]

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ↑ Engle, William Henry (1970). Notes and Queries: Historical, Biographical and Genealogical: Relating Chiefly to Interior PA. Genealogical Publishing Company. pp. 98, 103.
  3. ↑ Wylie, Rev SS (August 23, 1894). History of Rocky Springs Church. Chambersburg, PA: Franklin Repository Press. p. 27.
  4. ↑ Oldest dated gravestone is John Burns' and is dated 1760. "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania". CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Archived from the original (Searchable database) on July 21, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2012.Note: This includes Paula S. Reed (May 1993). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church" (PDF). Retrieved February 1, 2012.
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