Touring Revolutionary Churches in Trenton

Once again, the weather turned cold just as Patriot's Week 2025 started. Patriot's Week celebrates the Ten Crucial Days in the Revolutionary War when the tide changed from the Patriot's losing in December 1775 to being on the winning side. After General Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River on their Durham boats on Christmas Eve, they regrouped up hill from the Hessians in what is today marked by the Battle Monument. They moved their men, horses, and cannons to beat the Hessians. Huzzah!

I'm not sure when Patriot's Week began with a scheduled of events ranging from puppet shows, to walking tours, to a special Planetarium show, to walking tours, and more, but we started participating in 2008 by attending the Colonial Ball. Each year I eye up the list, make plans, and stay home because it is just too cold, or other plans take its place.

The day after Christmas with a storm in the forecast for 4 pm, I braved the bitter cold for a walking tour that would take us in three historic Trenton churches: Trenton Meeting of Friends, First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, and St. Michael's Church. The appeal of this tour was that we would spend part of the time inside. I didn't realize until too late that only two of the churches are currently heated.

Last month I went on a Ten Crucial Days walking tour, which is basically the tour offered during Patriot's Week but when the weather is a little warmer. During the tour I was told if I ever had the chance to go inside St. Michael's I should. Today's walk promised such an opportunity.

I've lived in the area nearly 40 years, since 1988. It is only recently that I've spent much time in the city. I tend to drive to a place. Park. Go inside. Leave. Go home. I don't have a map in my head of how places are connected. With Downtown Fit runs, and Trenton Walks that is changing. 

I took 13 pages of notes during our three hour walk, plus took pictures. As usual, I missed the start.

Trenton Meeting of Friends

In 1739 the Quaker Meeting House was a square building. The oldest picture they have dates back to 1860, after an 1841 addition made it modern for the day. It is the oldest standing church in Trenton. Our guide pointed out the additions. The galleries were added. In the 1840's the outside was changed to plaster and brick to make it look more finished. The 1860's added a "meeting parlor" gallery. In 1876 the entry hall was added, as well as an apse. In 1896 the open area next to the sanctuary was added. With each addition came a basement. The original square space only has a crawl space beneath it. 

Harry, our tour leader, in an effort to rein in the 19th century history lesson asked about the history of the church during the Revolutionary War. 

Quakers were (and are) against war. They do not believe in killing people.
Founded by George Fox in England in the 1660s during an era when there were revolutions taking place in England, Quakers decided to not take sides during wars. At first that was easy to do in this country as the wars were between England and France, or England and the Native Americans, then came the 1770s. 

There was the option of paying someone to take your place to fight, but that still went against the beliefs of the Quakers. John Pemberton wrote a letter in Philadelphia on December 20, 1775 (six days before the battle of Trenton) lecturing everyone to not fight. They were urged to block their doors and make the Hessians and Patriot troops break them down in order to come in. Eventually they left the doors unlocked. The church was used by both sides (at different times) as a place to board.

Outside we saw George Clymer's grave. George was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was not a Quaker, but he was married to one. Mary was disowned by the Quakers because she married someone outside the faith, even though his mother was a Quaker (also disowned for marrying outside the faith). They moved across the river to Morrisville, PA. After he died, his son (George Jr.) wanted him buried at the meeting house.

We walked to the former site of the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, from the back entrance.

First Presbyterian Church of Trenton

The first building was erected in 1626 (before the Quaker Meeting House) as a small log church. From 1805-1839 they worshipped in their second church. The current building came about in the 1830s. In 2022 the congregation moved out of the church and started worshipping in two houses behind the white steepled building. The physical church has been turned into a non-profit so they can apply for (and receive) public funding. They have raised $3.5 million from NJ Trust, $250,000 from National Parks (for the cemetery), and other grants. The hope is to restore the building and use it as a public space. 

We saw a copy of their 1759 charter. The original, on animal hide, is located in Philadelphia.

I was surprised to learn many of the early church leaders were affiliated with Princeton. Today the towns are about a twenty minute apart (a twelve-mile drive). In an era using horses, it must have been longer. 

The 1839 church is built on top of the cemetery. Things don't really change. Our church recently built an addition on top of their 200-year old cemetery. Space is limited.

Up until 1900 (or so), people paid to have their seat in the sanctuary. Their names appeared on their pew. Their peak membership was around 1890 when they had 700 members in a sanctuary that fit 500 people. What a good problem to have!

In 1973 the organ was replaced. The congregation was still active at that time.

Back outside we had a brief cemetery tour. The temperature had already dropped.

Many of the early pastors are buried here, including Elahu Spencer and David Cowell. Four out of Trenton's first five mayors were members of this church, including Charles Ewing  and Aaron Woodruff.

Hessian Commander Col. Johann Gottlieb Rall has a modern memorial here. At the time, they were protected by being buried in unmarked graves. 

Rev. John  Rosbrugh was the first pastor to be killed in the Revolutionary War at the Second Battle of Trenton. He lived in Allentown, NJ. He was bayonetted walking back to the barracks from the Blazing Star Tavern when his horse disappeared. 

Presbyterians disputed with the British since the Reformation. They came here to get away from them. They were in favor of spiritual freedom. They were active in the forming of our new government.

The wrought iron fence out front was installed in 1866 and was seen by President Abraham Lincoln. Our tour including the following presidential name drops: Washington, Adams, Van Buren, and then Lincoln. If those walls could talk!

St. Michael's Church

During the Revolutionary War, this was the largest building in Trenton. Snipers hid in upper windows, attacking the Hessians.  Being able to shoot at long distances, the rifles were effective, but they took a long time to reload. Each sniper had two people reloading as he took a shot. 

As with the other churches, we heard about the storied history, and saw some cool artifacts. In the office are two paintings that once hung at Joseph Bonapart's home, Joseph's brother was Napoleon. Joseph's daughter is buried in the cemetery. Also buried here is David Brearley, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and an early clerk of session (a role now held by a prominent Black Lawrencian, Fred Vereen). 

In the sanctuary three flags fly: the Union Jack, the Betsy Ross 13-star flag, and the current United States flag all factor into the history of St. Michael's. The organ is played by Clipper Erickson, a world-class organist. They also have a Tiffany window that photographs brighter than it looks in person. The website has a history of all of the windows. During the Revolution, these windows would have been as plain as the ones still in the Quaker Meeting House.

During the Revolutionary War the church shut its doors due to the divisiveness of the congregation over being Loyalists vs. Patriots. Rather than taking sides, the church closed on July 7, 1776. During the war, the building was occupied by the Hessians. Later it was a hospital where inoculations against Small Pox took place. They did not reopen until 1783, after the war ended. 

Today they have twelve. Due to the lack of heat, they have been meeting in the chapel with a space heater. They expect to be returning to the sanctuary once it is warmer.

I was fascinated to learn David Brearley. The Brearley House, which was built by his father and uncle, is the most historic house in Lawrenceville. Don and I have participated in their fundraising race the past two Junes. Brearley was known as the great "conciliar" because he was able to get people to come together and agree. We could use more of his type of personality these days. He is instrumental in getting the delegates from the Constitutional Convention to agree. The men were meeting to hammer out the details of how our new nation would run. How long would people serve? The idea of having one chamber based on population (instead of based on income) and the other to have two representatives for each state stems from these debates. The other representatives were ready to scrap it all and go home, but he got them to sit for extra meetings each night for nearly a week. Without him, we likely would have been thirteen different countries making different treaties, having different currencies, and having different laws instead of being one united country.

In 1801 the Episcopal Church of America was founded in this church when they held their national convention. There is an early book of common prayer dating back to the 1740s with handwritten notes with changes pinned inside, especially anything relating to the King of England. Many of the original church documents can be found on the website for the Philadelphia Congregations. The first American Book of Common Prayer was published in 1790, the same year David Brearley passed away at the age of 45.

We took a sneak peak into their basement where several people are buried. 

As the tour ended at 4, the first snowflakes began to fall. The timing was perfect.