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From: Maureen Foster <>
Subject: Yellow Meeting House In Upper Freehold, Monmouth County,NJ
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 15:17:23 -0400


Dear Listers,
>From time to time, someone posts questions about the Yellow Meeting
House in Upper Freehold, Monmouth County. This article was published in
the Asbury Park Press on Wednesday, 7/26/00. Perhaps it will help you in
your search.
Regards,
Maureen
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Yellow Meeting House in Upper Freehold to celebrate heritage

Published in the Asbury Park Press 7/26/00

By JOSEPH SAPIA
FREEHOLD BUREAU

UPPER FREEHOLD -- When Robert Haver walks into Ye Olde Yellow
Meeting
House, it is a walk into yesteryear.

"I think you can have an emotional connection to the people
of the past," said Haver,
a resident of neighboring Hamilton who chairs the Friends of
the Old Yellow Meeting
House preservation group.

What a connection it is -- dating to 1737, when the
cream-colored, two-story, wood
Baptist meeting house was built. Or even dating to about
1720, when an original
meeting house was built at the site. The original meeting
house was destroyed by fire
and apparently immediately replaced by the current meeting
house.

This Sunday, the connection with the past will again be
solidified when Ye Olde
Yellow Meeting House holds its 85th annual reunion and
luncheon. The noon
picnic-style luncheon, to be held under a tent on the
grounds, will be a preceded by
nondenominational religious services in the meeting house at
11 a.m. and the annual
meeting of the friends after the luncheon.

This year is also the 25th anniversary of the formation of
the Friends of the Old
Yellow Meeting House.

The friends group oversees the maintenance of the meeting
house and caretaker's
house. The caretaker's house, built on the site of a
parsonage, is 20 to 25 years old
-- dating to about the same time the meeting house was
renovated.

"The reunion service, I think, is to bring life to the
church, rather than have it stand
as a cold relic of the past," Haver said.

Ye Olde Yellow Meeting House, on Yellow Meeting House Road
and one of the oldest
Baptist meeting houses in the country, is owned by the Upper
Freehold Baptist
Church, which is in the Imlaystown section of the township.

While the Ye Olde Yellow Meeting House has a religious
affiliation, the friends
group does not.

"The friends are composed of various religious convictions,
not just Baptists," said
Betsy Poinsett, an Allentown resident serving as vice
chairwoman of the group. "They
were concerned about the preservation."

Poinsett, for example, is Presbyterian, while Haver is a
Baptist who belongs to
another congregation. Both are charter members of the
preservation group and have
been trustees for several years. The friends group has about
150 to 200 members.

If the weather is nice on Sunday, about 150 people are
expected to attend the
luncheon, Poinsett said. The meeting house seats about 100
and speakers will be
placed for anyone who cannot get inside to hear the worship
service.

The reunion has its roots in the Upper Freehold Baptist
Church's congregation
meeting at the Yellow Meeting House Road site until about 85
years ago, Haver said.
When the congregation's Imlaystown church was built about 3
1/2 miles away, the
tradition of having a reunion at the old worship site began,
Haver said.

Aside from at the annual reunion, Ye Olde Yellow Meeting
House is used for religious
services at Thanksgiving and for occasional weddings. The
friends group meets there
during warm weather, using the Upper Freehold church during
cold weather because
the meeting house has no heat.

"I think it's important to preserve our edifice, which is a
tribute to our ancestors,"
Poinsett said. "There is nothing like the quaint charm of the
older buildings. So much
has been torn down in the name of progress."

The meeting house has a loft, wooden pews, wood floors and a
raised preaching area.
The structure sits on a foundation of iron ore, which is the
characteristic fieldstone
of the area.

People interested in history may focus on the meeting house
cemetery, whose oldest
grave dates to about 1725. Visitors are welcome to the
cemetery any day during
daylight hours, Haver said.

"If you walk through the cemetery, you're going to see the
names of a lot of families
that still exist in the area," Haver said. Those family names
include Applegate, Dey,
Clayton, Polhemus, Gravatt and Holmes, Haver said.

Anyone seeking information on Ye Olde Yellow Meeting House
may contact Haver at
his home at (609) 588-0730.

Joe Sapia: (732) 863-1500 or (800) 822-9770, Ext. 7756

Published on July 26, 2000

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