The Old Bergen Church is a historic church congregation in

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

Hudson County Hudson County is a List of counties in New Jersey, county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, its smallest and most densely populated. Lying in the northeast of the state and on the west bank of the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River, the No ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, United States. Established in 1660 in what was then the Dutch colony of

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

, it is the oldest continuous religious congregation in what is today the State of New Jersey. The congregation is jointly affiliated with the

Reformed Church in America The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 82,865 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed ...

and the

Presbyterian Church (USA) The Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PCUSA, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination in the Religion in the United States, United States. It is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States too. Its th ...

. The church was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on August 14, 1973. The original church building was constructed in 1680 and the current edifice was built in 1841.

History

The congregation was formed in the Dutch colonial village of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

in 1660, located across the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

from the town of

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...

in what is today

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...

.http://oldbergenchurch.org/history.html Accessed January 4, 2009. The first services were held in a log schoolhouse. In 1680 an octagonal,

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

church was built by William Day. The church was located on Vroom Street, between Bergen and Tuers Avenues. The congregation outgrew the original church and a second church was erected in 1773. This church was also made of sandstone and was located at the corner of Bergen Avenue and Vroom Street. The third and current church was built in 1841 by ''William H. Kirk and Company'' and ''Clark and Van Nest''.

Notable burials

The Old Bergen Church Cemetery and the Speer Cemetery are affiliated with the church. *

Jane Tuers Jannetje Van Reypen Tuers was a patriot during the American Revolutionary War and had a role in confirming information about a British conspiracy with Benedict Arnold to take over West Point. Biography Jane and her husband Nicholas Tuers (1736/ ...

(1745–1834) –

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

patriot.

Gallery

File:Old Bergen Church 1938.jpg, Front of the Old Bergen Church in 1938 File:Dutchreformedchurchbergen1680.png, Original church from 1680

References

External links

Old Bergen Church
– Official Website *

View of Old Bergen Church
via

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expa ...

{{NRHP in Hudson County, New Jersey Churches in Hudson County, New Jersey Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey History of Jersey City, New Jersey Churches in Jersey City, New Jersey Churches completed in 1841 Reformed Church in America churches in New Jersey Presbyterian churches in New Jersey 1660 establishments in the Dutch Empire 1660 establishments in North America National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey Establishments in New Netherland New Jersey Register of Historic Places

History

Notable burials

Gallery

See also

References

External links