Editor's Notebook: When History Closes its Doors

It's Sunday, but the bells are silent. The First Presbyterian Church in Orange has closed its doors after 291 years making and marking local history.

Well before the Oranges separated from Newark, the Mountain Society came west and settled in the area that straddles the Gregory section of West Orange and the West Montrose section of South Orange. Their worship was formalized in 1719.

Jemima Condit (also spelled Cundit and Cundict) was a member. She kept a Revolutionary War diary that Patch described last year. Her pastor was Jerediah Chapman, famous during the battles.  She is buried on the church grounds, while he is memorialized with a plaque within.

The burial grounds themselves are a moving reminder that those we describe as the first Americans might have described themselves as the last generation born abroad. The headstones are testament to where the dead came from; the dates are both Julian and Gregorian.

In July of this year, the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church in Orange was disbanded. The buildings and grounds are owned by the Newark Presbytery, the church's governing body, which has not announced plans for the facility.

It's hard to overstate the historical significance of this congregation and its stately church home, located at busy corner of Scotland Road and Main Street. The grounds remain open for a visit, though the building is closed to the public. Patch visited for a last look around, a last backward glance at the historic Mountain Society.