Ye Olde Yellow Meeting House

Ye Olde Yellow Meeting House. . As early as 1700, Baptist settlers conducted worship services in this area. Church records describe the region as “a wild uncultivated place, but peopled with Indians in great abundance”. In 1720, the Baptists refitted a farmhouse on this site and used it for worship services until it was destroyed by fire.

The present structure, known as the Old Yellow Meeting House was built in 1730s and is traditionally dared from 1737. The meetinghouse is the oldest existing Baptist church in New Jersey. Built on exact compass settings, the gable ends face east and west, thereby providing a long southern exposure for heat and light.

Originally part of the Baptist Church in Middletown, 47 founding members of the meetinghouse secured their release in 1766 and were formally organized as an independent church. The congregation was known as the Crosswicks Baptist Church until 1773, and thereafter, as The Upper Freehold Baptist Church. In 1855 the Upper Freehold Baptists acquired their present site in Imlaystown, which gradually became the center of church life. Activity decreased at the Old Yellow Meeting House and it has not been in regular use since the late 1800s, except for special occasions and annual reunions.

(Inscription under the drawing in the center) , The restoration of the meetinghouse was completed in 1991 by the Friends of the Old Yellow Meeting House.