The Pennington
Presbyterian Cemetery

The Pennington Presbyterian Church is, or at least has been, associated with three separate cemeteries in the Pennington area.

• The Historical section dating from the mid-1700s to around the late 1890s, located to the south of the church. Legend claims that British soldiers, during the Revolutionary War, exercised their horses by jumping the stone wall along Main Street.

• The Old Cemetery located along West Delaware Avenue, west of the current Junior High School. This has a fairly complicated history. It appears to have been related to the Hopewell Presbyterian Church, then to the New Side movement of the Pennington Presbyterian Church, then to the Pennington Methodist Church. I believe the Methodist Church still maintains the property at this time.

• The Pennington Presbyterian Cemetery Association, located close to the Historical section, accessible from East Delaware Avenue and dating from the late 1890s. While almost everyone assumes this is part of the Pennington Presbyterian Church, this is in fact a separately owned property.

There is an interesting story about the Old Cemetery. When the Reverend James Davenport, an influential member of the New Side movement, passed away, he was buried at the Old Cemetery, associated with the New Side movement at Pennington.

Later, when the Methodist Church acquired use of the property, the thought of a Presbyterian minister being buried on the property of a Methodist Church appears to have disturbed members of the local Presbyterian Church. So, one dark night a group of Presbyterians dug up the casket of the good Reverend and moved it to the Historical Section in town. To honor the Reverend, the members provided a large, flat marker at the new grave site.

As may be expected, members of the Methodist Church were not happy with this surprising action and there followed some bitter meetings about the matter. Finally, it was agreed to return to casket to the Old Cemetery, where it still rests along side the grave of the Reverend's wife. The grave site is marked by a large, flat marker. However, I do not know if this is the same marker provided by the Presbyterian Church or whether it is an entirely separate marker.

My introduction to the Reverend James Davenport derived from an inquiry by Lloyd Turner, the author of many books about religious topics. This led to several months of interesting research, during which time, Rosemary and I actually viewed the grave marker for the good Reverend.

Historical Section
An inventory of the grave markers in the Historical section of the Pennington Presbyterian Church cemetery. This opens in a new window. Close the window to return to this page.

The Reverend James Davenport
The New Side movement in Pennington
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