Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church

Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church is a historic Presbyterian church in Letterkenny Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1794, and is a 1 1/2-story, four by six bay, brick Georgian style building. It measures 48 feet by 60 feet, and has a gable roof. The interior of the church includes two ten-plate stoves; brick aisle ways; a crude ladder leading to a loft; and wooden pews that are long and narrow with high straight-backed seating. The ends of the pews are carved with the names of the previous occupants identifying the military ranks they held during the Revolutionary War. Rocky Springs Church was a pay for pew church that required members to sign a financial agreement between the trustees of the church and the pew holders requiring an annual fee for occupancy of the pew.[2] The Church's pulpit is circular in form and positioned above the pews giving the speaker full view of the congregation. Access is gained by a staircase. Above the pulpit is an oval-shaped canopy or sounding board.

Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church
LocationRocky Spring Road, approximately 0.5 miles (0.80 km) northwest of Funk Road, Letterkenny Township, Pennsylvania
Coordinates39°59′19″N 77°40′35″W
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1794
ArchitectBeatty, Walter
Architectural styleGeorgian
NRHP reference No.94000430[1]
Added to NRHPMay 13, 1994

Five acres of land to build the church was acquired by warrant on November 6, 1792. Trustees of the congregation [3] who acquired the land upon which to build the church included: George Matthews, Esq.; James McCalmont, Esq.; James Ferguson, Esq.; James Culbertson, Esq.; and Samuel Culbertson. The property includes the church cemetery, with the oldest grave stone dated to the 1780s.[4]

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.[1] Each year the church is opened for an annual Presbyterian service giving the people in attendance an opportunity to experience the austere beauty of the church.[5]

  • Drawing made in 1894 for the centennial
  • Rocky Spring Church, 2013
  • Pews carved with the name of the pew holder
  • Straight-backed, carved, pews and crude ladder to loft
  • Church cemetery

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Engle, William Henry (1970). Notes and Queries: Historical, Biographical and Genealogical: Relating Chiefly to Interior PA. Genealogical Publishing Company. pp. 98, 103.
  3. Wylie, Rev SS (August 23, 1894). History of Rocky Springs Church. Chambersburg, PA: Franklin Repository Press. p. 27.
  4. Oldest dated gravestone is John Burns' and is dated 1760. "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania" (Searchable database). CRGIS: Cultural Resources Geographic Information System. Note: This includes Paula S. Reed (May 1993). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Rocky Spring Presbyterian Church" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  5. Brechbill, Bonnie H. "Annual Service Gives Public a Chance to Worship at Old PA Church". Herald Mail Home. Retrieved 7 May 2014.


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