8-567: Penns Neck Baptist Church (also known as Red Lion Tavern and Princeton Baptist Church at Penns Neck ) is a historic church located on US 1 at Washington Road in the Penns Neck section of West Windsor Township , Mercer County, New Jersey , United States. Built in 1812, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 28, 1989, for its significance in architecture, exploration/settlement, and religion. The church
16-652: Is an unincorporated community located within West Windsor Township in Mercer County , in the U.S. state of New Jersey . The community developed at the intersection of the Trenton-New Brunswick Turnpike (now U.S. Route 1) and Washington Road . The Penns Neck Circle and the historic Penns Neck Baptist Church (1812) are both located in Penns Neck. The Princeton Branch rail line, known as
24-684: Is the first year that the name "Penns Neck" (named after Penn) appears - alongside an alternate name, "Williamsborough." Soon after, the area - bordered by the Stony Brook to the west, the Millstone River to the north, the Assunpink Creek to the south, and Penn Lyle Road to the east - became settled by the Schenck and Covenhoven families. In the late 1730s/1740s, the Schenck-Covenhoven cemetery
32-532: The Dinky, has run through the area since 1865, and stopped at Penns Neck station until January 1971. The 6500-acre tract of land that would become Penns Neck was initially purchased from the East Jersey Board of Proprietors by William Penn , Quaker founder of Pennsylvania . In 1737, concurrent to the settlement of Dutch Neck , Garret Schenck 7 John Covenhoven purchased the land from Penn's sons. That same year
40-630: The church was built, twenty-nine residents of the Penn's Neck area had been baptized including Richard Thomas, who would later serve as a delegate to the New Jersey Association (formed 1811), and New Jersey Baptist State Convention (formed 1830). Funds for the church building were raised from the congregation in Hightstown as well as residents of Princeton. At its dedication the church had thirty-seven members. Penns Neck, New Jersey Penns Neck
48-555: The church was first referred to as Williamsborough Baptist. The Rev. Peter Wilson started in ministry in central Jersey preaching in private homes, starting at that of John Flock in Pennington in 1790, and also at John Campbell's house in Princeton . In 1791 John Hight and his wife of Penn's Neck were baptized and preaching continued in their home as well as others in Princeton. By the time
56-425: Was built alongside the then new Trenton and New Brunswick Turnpike , now Route One . The turnpike, which had opened in 1807, was designed to help provide a proper road connection between Philadelphia and New York City . The parsonage pre-dated the church and had been a public house in which, it is thought, George Washington and William Penn had stayed. At the time the area was also called Williamsburg and
64-600: Was constructed to house the settlers' dead. Following the chartering of Brunswick Pike (Route 1) in 1804 and its completion in 1807, the community began to flourish, seeing the construction of the Red Lion Inn. In 1812, the Princeton Baptist Church (AKA the Penns Neck Baptist Church) was erected, helping to center the intersection of Route 1 and Washington Road as the geographical and historical heart of
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