History

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The Bernardsville United Methodist Church

The Bernardsville United Methodist Church congregation celebrated its 165th anniversary in 2006. This congregation is the oldest in Bernardsville, having started when Methodists in the area began meeting in members’ homes in the 1840′s. Their first church, built in 1845, and dedicated in 1846, was located on Anderson Road near the present Old Methodist Cemetery. In 1879, finding this church too small, the Methodists decided a new sanctuary was needed. With the help of George I. Seney, a local Mountain Colony resident and philanthropist, they were able to build a wooden church on Wesley Avenue, dedicated on June 27, 1880. The Anderson Road church was remodeled and used as a school until a growing congregation in 1914 necessitated the building of a new and larger church on the Wesley Avenue site. This (present) church was constructed of native stone in the Norman, Tudor and Gothic style, and many of the local Italian masons who had worked on the large estates on the mountain worked on the church as well. The builder was local resident, contractor, and church member, Horace McWilliams. The adjacent stone parsonage, built in 1903, was designed by famous local architect George B. Post. Prior to this time a house, now the office building at 35 Olcott Square, served as the Methodist parsonage. 

The interior of the church was totally renovated in 1965, at which time a new pipe organ, the gift of Guy George Gabrielson in honor of Mrs. Gabrielson’s parents, was installed. In 2005 it was determined that the church stonework had deteriorated to a point where it needed immediate attention. The stonework was tuckpointed, helping to conserve the integrity of the old church. The stones were cleaned and shrubbery was cut back, adding much to the photogenic quality of the building. 

The First Methodist Church on Anderson Road after conversion to a school. Circa 1846.

The Methodist Church in Bernardsville has made valuable contributions to our community over the years. The first library in the town was a lending library in the church and from that small beginning our present public library has grown. The Bernardsville Woman’s Club also owes its start to the church. A Woman’s Social Union, formed by the ladies of the church, was the forerunner of today’s Woman’s Club. 

The first church on the Wesley Avenue site. Circa 1879.