Bethel AME Church (1847) Pennington, NJ

*BETHEL A.M.E. CHURCH (1816) & CEMETERY, PENNINGTON, NEW JERSEY (c. LAWRENCE E. WALKER FOUNDATION)

The village’s Black neighborhood, with the African Methodist Episcopal Church at its center, was identifiable at the southern end of South Main Street between Lanning and Curlis avenues. This church was built in 1847 (1108-19-33). This simple, frame structure, located on the west side of South Main Street and erected on the site of the original church (which was built in the 1850s), remains the principal focus of Pennington’s Black neighborhood and is one of the village’s most notable historic buildings. This small church is a one-and-a-half-story stucco building with a simple rectangular plan and a Gothic triple-arched window in the front gable-end fade.  A small cemetery on the opposite side of South Main Street has also been associated with this church from the mid-19th century.

(SOURCE: AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH)