kenb
Bronze Member
Good article,
Mayor unearths two churches' hidden pasts
Scharfenberger's findings run from historic to spooky
BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN - Christians go to church. Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger goes under them.
Scharfenberger
He finds things one might not expect, a perfectly good dead cat, for instance, a 17thcentury witch's caldron, bullets and whiskey bottles - lots and lots of whiskey bottles.
In the name of scholarly pursuit, the archaeologist/ mayor recently excavated two area churches with roots in the 1660s: the Old First Church at 69 Kings Highway and the Holmdel Community United Church of Christ, 40 Main St.
On Aug. 22, Scharfenberger, an adjunct professor at Monmouth University and senior archaeologist for Richard Grubb & Associates, Cranbury, appeared at Croydon Hall to present a slideshow highlighting some of his more unusual finds. The dead cat, for example, was found with a gunshot wound to the eye.
"What could possibly have caused someone to get so angry they'd want to shoot this cat?" Scharfenberger asked the large crowd of senior citizens.
The answer, it turns out, is witches. In the late 1600s, cats and other small animals were often sacrificed and buried under churches to "keep out spiritual venom," Scharfenberger said.
Dozens of whiskey flasks were found underneath two historical churches in Holmdel and Middletown. Ironically, both spots were used as meeting sites for the New Jersey Temperance Society in the mid 19th century.
These pagan beliefs were brought to America from England, the mayor explained. Built right into the foundation of the church, animal sacrifices and witch's cauldrons both served the same purpose, Scharfenberger said. It's important to remember that witch hunts were all the rage at the turn of the 17th century, Scharfenberger said, noting the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, and even closer to home the last witch hanging in New Jersey, an event that wouldn't take place for almost another hundred years in 1787 in Burlington County.
Originally, both churches were part of the same congregation, Scharfenberger said.
Under the Middletown church, the mayor found two British musket balls from the Revolutionary War.
"They [the British] took over that church after the Battle of Monmouth," Scharfenberger said on Friday. "They took out all the pews, all the benches, and used it as a hospital/headquarters until they were ready to get out of Sandy Hook."
He added, "The congregation could hear the cannon fire from the church during services. It was Sunday when the battle took place."
Over in Holmdel, there is a small creek behind the church. Before the mid-1800s, the creek was used for baptisms, Scharfenberger said, even in the dead of winter. In the creek, the mayor found several glass bottles of Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, a type of teething medicine produced between the 1830s and 1890s.
"Give your child Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup and he'll sleep like the dead 'till morning," was the brand's slogan, Scharfenberger said, adding that he believed the product's claims because the syrup's primary ingredients were morphine and alcohol.
"This was before FDA [Food and Drug Administration] oversight," Scharfenberger said.
Somewhat ironically, the two churches were both used as the New Jersey Temperance Society's headquarters.
"In the face of temperance, here you were giving babies morphine and alcohol," Scharfenberger said.
"One of the pastors was actually president of the New Jersey Temperance Society," Scharfenberger said, explaining the anti-alcohol movement of the mid to late 19th century, a movement that culminated with prohibition amendment in 1919. Dozens of empty whiskey and brandy bottles were found under both churches, in hidden floorboards and other secret spots, along with tins of "Baghdad" brand tobacco.
"I think they were hiding it," Scharfenberger said of the bottles. "It was in areas where you could reach in between floorboards, and stash it, in well-known places for hiding behavior you didn't want anyone else to see. There was no waste management in those days so you had to do what you could."
At the Middletown church, Scharfenberger said he came a little too close to the past.
While digging around one Sunday afternoon, Scharfenberger said he heard footsteps upstairs. He assumed it was a man who came to vacuum on the weekends. Throughout the afternoon, he continued to hear loud footsteps. Finally, he went upstairs to let the man know he was in the building. Once upstairs, he had the scare of his life.
"I heard a door open and close and boots walking across the wooden floor," Scharfenberger said, adding the noise repeated itself. "Then, it got so close that I said, I just want to let you know I'm here.
"I saw the office door open real slow, then slam shut," Scharfenberger said. He entered the room to find no one present. Then he ran out of the church.
"I wonder, am I upsetting them by what I'm doing?" Scharfenberger asked. "He's probably looking for his whiskey bottles."
Next month, the Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology will publish a piece on Scharfenberger's findings at Middletown's Old First Church. In the fall of 2008, Historical Archaeology, an international journal published by the Society of Historical Archaeology, will publish an article on the items unearthed beneath the Holmdel Community Church of Christ.
http://independent.gmnews.com/news/2007/0829/Front_Page/026.html
kenb
Mayor unearths two churches' hidden pasts
Scharfenberger's findings run from historic to spooky
BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN - Christians go to church. Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger goes under them.
Scharfenberger
He finds things one might not expect, a perfectly good dead cat, for instance, a 17thcentury witch's caldron, bullets and whiskey bottles - lots and lots of whiskey bottles.
In the name of scholarly pursuit, the archaeologist/ mayor recently excavated two area churches with roots in the 1660s: the Old First Church at 69 Kings Highway and the Holmdel Community United Church of Christ, 40 Main St.
On Aug. 22, Scharfenberger, an adjunct professor at Monmouth University and senior archaeologist for Richard Grubb & Associates, Cranbury, appeared at Croydon Hall to present a slideshow highlighting some of his more unusual finds. The dead cat, for example, was found with a gunshot wound to the eye.
"What could possibly have caused someone to get so angry they'd want to shoot this cat?" Scharfenberger asked the large crowd of senior citizens.
The answer, it turns out, is witches. In the late 1600s, cats and other small animals were often sacrificed and buried under churches to "keep out spiritual venom," Scharfenberger said.
Dozens of whiskey flasks were found underneath two historical churches in Holmdel and Middletown. Ironically, both spots were used as meeting sites for the New Jersey Temperance Society in the mid 19th century.
These pagan beliefs were brought to America from England, the mayor explained. Built right into the foundation of the church, animal sacrifices and witch's cauldrons both served the same purpose, Scharfenberger said. It's important to remember that witch hunts were all the rage at the turn of the 17th century, Scharfenberger said, noting the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, and even closer to home the last witch hanging in New Jersey, an event that wouldn't take place for almost another hundred years in 1787 in Burlington County.
Originally, both churches were part of the same congregation, Scharfenberger said.
Under the Middletown church, the mayor found two British musket balls from the Revolutionary War.
"They [the British] took over that church after the Battle of Monmouth," Scharfenberger said on Friday. "They took out all the pews, all the benches, and used it as a hospital/headquarters until they were ready to get out of Sandy Hook."
He added, "The congregation could hear the cannon fire from the church during services. It was Sunday when the battle took place."
Over in Holmdel, there is a small creek behind the church. Before the mid-1800s, the creek was used for baptisms, Scharfenberger said, even in the dead of winter. In the creek, the mayor found several glass bottles of Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, a type of teething medicine produced between the 1830s and 1890s.
"Give your child Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup and he'll sleep like the dead 'till morning," was the brand's slogan, Scharfenberger said, adding that he believed the product's claims because the syrup's primary ingredients were morphine and alcohol.
"This was before FDA [Food and Drug Administration] oversight," Scharfenberger said.
Somewhat ironically, the two churches were both used as the New Jersey Temperance Society's headquarters.
"In the face of temperance, here you were giving babies morphine and alcohol," Scharfenberger said.
"One of the pastors was actually president of the New Jersey Temperance Society," Scharfenberger said, explaining the anti-alcohol movement of the mid to late 19th century, a movement that culminated with prohibition amendment in 1919. Dozens of empty whiskey and brandy bottles were found under both churches, in hidden floorboards and other secret spots, along with tins of "Baghdad" brand tobacco.
"I think they were hiding it," Scharfenberger said of the bottles. "It was in areas where you could reach in between floorboards, and stash it, in well-known places for hiding behavior you didn't want anyone else to see. There was no waste management in those days so you had to do what you could."
At the Middletown church, Scharfenberger said he came a little too close to the past.
While digging around one Sunday afternoon, Scharfenberger said he heard footsteps upstairs. He assumed it was a man who came to vacuum on the weekends. Throughout the afternoon, he continued to hear loud footsteps. Finally, he went upstairs to let the man know he was in the building. Once upstairs, he had the scare of his life.
"I heard a door open and close and boots walking across the wooden floor," Scharfenberger said, adding the noise repeated itself. "Then, it got so close that I said, I just want to let you know I'm here.
"I saw the office door open real slow, then slam shut," Scharfenberger said. He entered the room to find no one present. Then he ran out of the church.
"I wonder, am I upsetting them by what I'm doing?" Scharfenberger asked. "He's probably looking for his whiskey bottles."
Next month, the Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology will publish a piece on Scharfenberger's findings at Middletown's Old First Church. In the fall of 2008, Historical Archaeology, an international journal published by the Society of Historical Archaeology, will publish an article on the items unearthed beneath the Holmdel Community Church of Christ.
http://independent.gmnews.com/news/2007/0829/Front_Page/026.html
kenb
