Old Presbyterian Church
Newtown Heritage Walk No. 13
The Old Presbyterian Church was erected on North Sycamore Street in 1769 to replace the original 1734 log structure that stood a half mile to the west on Swamp Road near the high school and the bypass.
In 1776, George Washington used this church and the session house to hold several hundred Hessian prisoners captured during the Battle of Trenton before they were marched to Philadelphia and exchanged for American soldiers. When the building was renovated in 1842, workers discovered a poem written in coal on the basement wall by a Hessian soldier. In the graveyard, 22 soldiers of the Revolutionary War are buried.
Today, the congregation uses the old church on Sycamore Street in the summer. The rest of the year, worshippers spend Sunday mornings at the new church located on the corner of Washington Avenue and Chancellor Street, where services were permanently moved in 1921.
Marker is on Sycamore Street, on the left when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
