It was an ordinary day. Just stopped the car, grabbed my Nikon camera and told Carol I'd be back in a few minutes. I had just pulled over to the side of the road in front of what many consider to be the second oldest structure in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The oldest is considered to be the Hans Herr House near the small town known as Willow Street which is to the south of the city of Lancaster. I had recently come upon a story about the Byerland Mennonite Meetinghouse at the corner of Byerland Church Road and Mount Hope School Road, which is also to the south of Willow Street. It was this story that suggested that the Byerland Mennonite Meetinghouse was one of the oldest structures. As I continued to read, I found that the first Mennonites arrived in Lancaster County in 1710 when a group of ten families from the Palatinate of Switzerland and southern Germany settled on 10,000 acres that now includes the areas known as Willow Street, Strasburg and Lampeter. Their leader was Bishop Hans Herr who built a house in 1719 in the Mennonite farmland where they had settled. Eventually more Mennonites arrived and settled between the Conestoga and Pequea Creeks. All these Mennonites came to Pennsylvania at the invitation of William Penn who was a Quaker that had been imprisoned in England at one time. After he moved to a new country and settled in Pennsylvania, he offered land to the Mennonites of Europe so they too could experience religious freedom. It was estimated that about 50,000 Mennonites sailed to America, but only 30,000 survived the voyage. Many of those that did survive settled near Byerland and soon Mennonite farms spread across the fertile limestone valleys.
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| The historical sign in front of the log cabin meetinghouse. |
The building which I stopped to take photographs of today began as a small log building that was built in the early 1700s. The date most often referred to for the founding of this "church" was 1724. I also took a photo of the historical plaque that stands in front of the "church" which says it was built by Charles Christopher and Jacob Beam around 1755 on land owned by Samuel Boyer, from which the name Byerland (Boyer land) received its name. This building was used as a meetinghouse until 1848 when a church was built to replace the small log cabin church.  |
This current church sits catty-corner from the log cabin meetinghouse.
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Thirty-one years later the present church was built using stones from the original church as part of the foundation. On November 10, 1949, the original log cabin was moved so it now sits catty-corner from the latest brick church. The original log cabin meetinghouse is in amazing shape. It's sandstone base is in remarkable condition as are the log walls. Check out the following photographs that I took to share with you. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordninary guy. |
The log cabin meetinghouse which was the original church.
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The base is mostly sandstone between larger stones.
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The corner joints look to be dovetail joints.
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The shingles are wooden.
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| The original meetinghouse must have been extremely crowded on days of worship. |
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