The history of the Church at Three Mile Run is tied to the
early European settlers of Dutch and French Huguenot heritage. As early as
1650, Secretary of New Netherlands, Cornelius Van Tienhoven, attracted settlers
from New York, with his descriptions of the area along the Raritan. Within thirty years, families from New York
and Long Island began to settle on lands where New Brunswick now stands.
By the year 1703, they had established a church for worship
opposite the residence of Abraham J. Voorhees. Church records locate the structure about one and one half miles outside
of New Brunswick. As the population grew, new congregations were
established. In 1710, a church was
erected at Six Mile Run and perhaps as early as 1714, another was built on the
corner of Burnet and Schureman Streets in New Brunswick. At first, the four churches operated as one,
with common officers. But, dissention
grew and by 1717, an agreement was reached whereby the Three Mile Run and New
Brunswick Churches would operate as one, and the Six and Ten Mile Run Churches
would do the same.
The church was reconstructed at East Jersey Old Town in
1973 with a pyramid roof, in the European style familiar to its founders. The burial ground still exists near the
intersection of How Lane and Route 27.
Return to East Jersey Old Town Village