Clove Church, Wantage
- Identifier
- NJS-PLC-00226
- Place Type
- Religious Site
- Located In
- Wantage
- Description
-
The congregation of the Clove Church in Wantage, Sussex County, NJ, was formed in 1787 under the auspices of the Classis of New Brunswick of the Dutch Reformed Church. Elias Van Bunschooten was installed as pastor of the Clove Church and served in that capacity for nearly three decades until his death in 1815. Van Bunschooten came from a wealthy slaveholding family in Dutchess County, New York. He purchased a 1000-acre plantation at Clove, and he exploited enslaved labor while he was pastoring the Clove Church.
During Van Bunschooten's time, the congregation worshiped in a log meeting house. After Van Bunschooten's death, the church was reorganized as a Presbyterian congregation and a new building was erected in 1829 near where the log meeting house once stood. That 1829 church building is now on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, known as Old Clove Church or alternatively as the First Presbyterian Church of Wantage.
Also associated with the church is the Old Clove Church Cemetery across Route 23, with graves dating back to the 18th century. Elias Van Bunschooten was originally interred there, although the General Synod subsequently removed his remains and had them reinterred at the Necropolis at the First Reformed Church of New Brunswick. - Locality
- Wantage
- County (Modern)
- Sussex County
- State or Province
- New Jersey
- Country
- United States of America
- Latitude
- 41.24108
- Longitude
- -74.62246
- References
-
First Presbyterian Church of Wantage. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First%5fPresbyterian%5fChurch%5fof%5fWantage.
The Old Clove Church. https://www.oldclovechurch.org/.
Old Clove Church Cemetery. Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1973393/old-clove-church-cemetery.
- Keywords
- National Register of Historic Places
- Image Rights
- Elias Van Bunschooten House, Sussex County, photograph by Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, 2008. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. File from Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ELIAS_VAN_BUNSCHOOTEN_HOUSE;_SUSSEX_COUNTY.jpg
- Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
- Linked Persons
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