The "Looking For History In All The Wrong Places" Story

Preface: Just spent an hour searching for a small building that at one time was a Presbyterian Church.  Place was located in Caernarvon, Pennsylvania which is to the east of the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  After an hour I gave up and decided to head home.  Before long I was lost and ended up on the Pennsylvania Turnpike headed toward Philadelphia. Pulled over and placed my destination in my iphone as well as in my car directional program.  Each gave me a different route to follow, but both agreed I was headed in the wrong direction. After the second hour of driving, I pulled into my driveway at home and decided I would Google a story about my original destination and use one of the photographs I had hoped to take myself today.

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at photographs of what at one time was a Presbyterian Church.  The building was built in 1843 and in 1846 was incorporated as part of the Donegal Presbytery.  The building was only used as a church for a short time. It was then used for other purposes by other groups and eventually fell into disrepair.  Then in 1976 the building was restored by the Caernarvon Historical Society to be used as an historical site and museum.  The structure, as it stands today, contains most of the original materials and features as it did when it was originally built.  It was built with limestone, ironstone and sandstone fieldstone of a variety of colors and textures.  Cut stone was used to form the arches above the front windows as well as the transom window.  Large stones, hewn in an ashlar or squared style are used as quoins, or masonry blocks on the four corners of the building.  The lower blocks on the northwest corner of the front are more sharply cut and are sandstone, which is a darker, red-brown color.  They look out-of-place, but were intended to be placed in that way.   The cornerstones were planed to be a special feature of the building; providing a sense of solidity and stability to the structure.  The church was built in a rectangular shape with the north elevation having two bays and the east and west facades being three bays wide.  The rear is broken into there bays also and there are no windows on this side of the building.  There is a projection on the rear that was more than likely the altar or pulpit.  On the front is a date stone that is above the window near the peak of the gable that reads: Caernarvon Church Built 1843.  There are two doors on the front that are made of wood in a barrel vault style and painted white.  Above each door is a window of seven panes with a keystone above the center of the arch.  Above these windows is a smaller fanlight window.  There are three windows of nine panels each on the east and west sides of the church while the north side has no windows at all.  The roof features wood shingles and has a deep overhang and soffit at the front and rear of the church.  A bit more about the church is: The land for the church and nearby cemetery was donated by Robert and Chatarine Carmichael Jenkins, the owners of Wi Windsor Forge.  The carpenter of the interior of the church was William Buchanan of Honeybrook.  Church services were conducted every third Sunday afternoon.  The Caernarvon Historical Society was established in 1975 to promote interest in the history-rich Township of Caernarvon.  The church was restored in time for the 1976 Bicentennial.  Some of the pews were removed and showcases were added for historical artifacts.  In 1979 the building was dedicated as the Society's headquarters.  In 2004, the Donegal Presbytery donated the property to the Historical Society and presented them the keys at a dedication ceremony.  The Caernarvon Historical Society has preserved the historical character of this Churchtown landmark and is sharing it with residents and visitors to the area.  And, some day I will actually have the honor of walking through the door of this historical relic and seeing what it might've looked like in the mid-1800s.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.