The New Side Movement

The New Side movement within the Presbyterian Church lasted from 1741 until 1758. During this time a group of families left the established Presbyterian Church in Pennington and purchased some land on (what is now) West Delaware Avenue, west of the current Junior High School. You can still visit the cemetery on that property

After the New Side movement came to an end, the Pennington Methodist acquired the use of the property for their meetings. This became known as the Old Red Church, because of the building color. Later, the Methodists then constructed a new building at 143 South Main around 1826. Still later, around 1848, the Methodists constructed a new, much larger building at 60 South Main, that is still being used.

My introduction to the New Side movement derived from an inquiry with respect to James Davenport, 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.

The Presbyterian Church in America
This is a graphical tree describing Presbyterian denominational history in the United States. Look for New Side/Old Side near the top-left corner of the chart. Use of this chart is provided Courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA.

This page is intended only as an introduction to the New Side movement, as it affected Pennington. For more information about this topic do a web search for the New Side movement and you will find many links to this subject.

The chart of the Presbyterian Church in America is provided by the Courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, PA.

The Reverend James Davenport
The New Side movement in Pennington
Exit to Pennington Presbyterian Church