Octorara Covenanter Presbyterian Church
Bart Township, Lancaster County, PA
Octorara Covenanter Presbyterian Church 1188 Valley Road, Quarryville, PA. The land for this building was received from Middle Octorara Presbyterian Church, which is located across the road.
Above: The church was organized in 1753 by John Cuthbertson, a missionary from Scotland.
Above: There are two hooded entries on the gable end.
History in Churches and Cemeteries
of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania:
Octorara Presbyterian Church
(Associate or Covenanter Church, original United Presbyterian)
1754 - First church built. Organized by Associate Church of Scotland (Covenantor or Seceder Presbyterians).
1849 - 1850 - Present church built.
1858 - Denomination adopted the name of United Presbyterian Church.
1917 - Services discontinued at this location.
1939 - Site taken over by United Presbyterian General Assembly as a national shrine.
1941 - Congregation officially disbanded.
Source: Churches and Cemeteries of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, A. Hunter Rineer, 1993, page 43. LancasterHistory
Above: The frame addition on the left was a schoolroom, a Presbyterian Academy. In the early 1900s this schoolroom was used as a high school for Bart Township. The schoolroom and the church interior have been restored.
Above: Historical marker of Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County
Description in Our Present Past (1985)
By the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County:
“Old Octorara Presbyterian Church (The Shrine Church), Valley Road, north side, west of Quarry Rod; 1849; one story, two bay stone church; two hooded entries on gable end; built on site of earlier 1754 church;” page 36, Our Present Past, Historic Preservation Trust, 1985.
1932: Geologist describes the stone:
“The walls are of Chickies quartzite…”
Above: Building Stones of Pennsylvania, by Ralph W. Stone, 1932.
This church’s building stone is local Chickies quartzite of the Chickies Formation. Chickies Rock, which overlooks the Susquehanna River near Marietta, is also part of this formation. Lancaster County’s Chickies Rock is one of this region’s best know geologic sites. It is one of the most famous exposed anticlines (folded geologic arches) in the northeast U.S.
A band of Chickies quartzite bedrock is located north of this church. This quartzite has been used as building stone for generations.
Chickies Quartzite across the Road
In Middle Octorara Presbyterian Church
Built ca. 1800:
Above: Middle Octorara Presbyterian Church is located across the road from the Covenenter Presbyterian Church. It was built ca. 1800. Both churches are built with Chickies quartzite building stone.
Rev. Dr. William Easton
A Pioneering Anti-Slavery Abolitionist:
Rev. Dr. William Easton (1804 - 1879) was pastor of this Octorara Covenanter Presbyterian Church for more than 50 years. This was his primary pastorate. Rev. Easton became a fearless anti-slavery activist in Lancaster County. Local newspapers describe his fight against slavery:
“He was a pioneer in the anti-slavery cause…”
“He was a pioneer in the anti-slavery cause, bearing his testimony from the pulpit against the heresy of slavery being ‘a Bible institution,’ when to do so we exceedingly unpopular.” Quote: The Semi-Weekly New Era, May 26, 1877, page 6.
In addition to pastoring this Covenanter Church, Rev. Easton also built a small church a few miles away in Smyrna, Lancaster County. He used that church as headquarters for his anti-slavery meetings. More information about that church is here.