River Corner Mennonite Church
Conestoga, Lancaster County, PA
Built in 1882
Above: The River Corner Church. The name refers to this location near the junction of the Susquehanna River and the Conestoga River.
Above: Chimney pots perch on a roof of Peach Bottom slate. This land was donated to the Mennonites by Benedict Eshleman, a local farmer / civic leader.
The Local Building Stone:
Schist and Quartzite:
The Church on a Geologic Map:
Above: This map indicates the church is built on bedrock identified as Antietam and Harpers Formations, Undivided. Schist and metasandstone are typical of this bedrock.
Image source: Bedrock Geologic Map of the Conestoga and Quarryville Quadrangles…, 2007, (icon added).
Above: Rubble schist with ashlar quoins.
Above: Rubble schist with ashlar quoins.
Above: A historic photo reveals that the north facade originally had two doors. Men and women typically had separate entrances in Mennonite meetinghouses of this type. The left door has been replaced with a window. Image source: LancasterHistory
Description in Our Present Past (1985)
By the Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County:
“River Creek Mennonite Church, River Corner Road, west side, south of Hilltop Road, 1882, one and one-half story, four bay deep stone church; among the oldest sites in Lancaster County which may be associated with worship by Mennonites; a log church was erected on the site c. 1760, later replaced by a stone church in 1828 which was either rebuilt or replaced with the present church; among the most intact of all stone Mennonite churches,” Our Present Past, page 85, Historic Preservation Trust of Lancaster County.