The Ponds Church 3

The Ponds Church
Serving God and Oakland for Over 300 Years
By Kevin Heffernan

Ponds Church - 2004

The Ponds Church in Oakland…..This writer struggles to present its importance and contribution to this community since it was established in 1710. And even now when I have much information at my fingertips about it, I still marvel at its contribution to Oakland and say a silent prayer in thanksgiving for its presence here as Oakland would simply not be what it is without it. If one were to think about it for a moment, the Ponds Church was 66 years old when the Declaration of Independence was read from its pulpit and 153 years old when the Emancipation Proclamation was read to its membership. Underscoring its presence, it was the only church in Oakland for about 250 years until the 1960’s.

The First Church by the First Settlers
Since the earliest days of the settlement on this valley in 1699, it brought a presence to the emptiness of the wilderness. When it was first founded, it was the only church structure west of Hackensack in the entire county. This church has been a landmark on every map ever prepared and for a good reason. A simple log structure built by the hands, minds and hearts of our first settlers, it instantly became the recognized center not only of worship but also the center of civil society in Oakland. It quickly became a beacon of light and the nexus of civilization in an area where the distance to one’s nearest neighbor was measured in miles.

The Ponds Church equally brought purpose and dedication to the lives of a people living in remoteness. And it brought order to the unknown and God closer to them to reduce the aloneness of those who braved all and the unknown to come here to literally carve out a better life for them and their inheritors, us, the citizens of Oakland today and those that follow us.

The first Ponds Church building of 1710 was a simple log building thought to be a rectangular structure devoid of a steeple or other finer religious accoutrements. But nobody knows for certain what it looked like as certainly no photographs exist nor even drawings survive to this day. Since this valley was so sparsely populated and the membership was so low, it did not have its own, full time pastor for over 125 years. Our Ponds Church was on a circuit of ordained preachers who might visit 3-4 times per year. Between visits, a church elder would conduct services consisting mostly of bible readings and the singing of sacred hymns. The arriving preacher would visit to baptize children, perform marriages, receive new congregants and preach in Dutch to the faithful.

Since the church was located in a remote valley and since everyone belonged to it, it became a center of civil society where the Elders would even arbitrate disputes among its members. Hackensack was too distant and unnecessarily formal for church members. And, it is documented that the very first school in Oakland was sponsored by and part of the Ponds Church. It can be fairly said that nothing in this valley was beyond the notice of the Elders of the church and, equally, nothing was beyond their benign potential involvement.
Yan Romaine Donates Land for the Second Church Building
In 1724 future good fortune had intervened for the Ponds Church when Yan Romaine, one of the first settlers of Oakland and an ancestor of Ron Romaine, purchased 600 acres of land around the original church building. Ron is a direct descendant of the original founders of Oakland in 1699. As a life-long resident, he has seen this community grow through the hand and involvement of a long line of Romaines. Even the graveyard of the Church on the Green in Hackansack contains the graves of many of his storied relatives. It was good fortune as by 1738 the original log structure had deteriorated to a point beyond use. A new structure was needed and Yan Romaine donated a portion of his property to the church for the construction of a new, hexagonal church in 1740. It was build by the church members and made of stone. While it was being built, services were held in the barn on the Demerest farm. It has been written that George Washington, on his way through this valley, stopped there to pray.

The Rise and Fall of the Iconic 1828 Ponds Church

Ponds Church - 1870

As time, use and nature took their toll, a new church structure was needed. 89 years later the iconic 1829 church was built in the same location as the 1740 church. It was the third iteration of the church building. And in a nod to both tradition and continuity, the stones of the 1740 church were use for the construction of the new building. By 1845, the church had a sufficiently large congregation to support its own full time pastor. It also built a residence for the new pastor in 1845 on 60 acres of land with chickens and wheat supplied by the congregation. In 1880 the structure was remodeled with gothic style windows and the dual entrances were replaced by a single portal.

1909 Congregation

In the late 1800’s the Ivy Society, a social and financial organization of the church was formed and replaced the Miter Society. It built a 2 story hall building located to the front right of the current police station. It eventually was purchased by Oakland in 1904 for use as our town hall, Unfortunately, it burned down in 1922 although the remains of its foundation can be seen today.

Ponds Church - circa 1950

But all good thing must end and by 1921, the 1829 church suffered a progressive catastrophic structural failure in that the roof trusses were not supported by cross beams causing a separation of the side walls and the steeple to tilt backwards. The ladies Aid Society pledged $1,000 for the construction of the Ponds Chapel at the location of the current Ponds Church. It was built in 1924 and occasionally was known as the Workhouse of God due to its simple wood design. That building was fully incorporated into the current Ponds Church building when it was erected in 1960. But again, tradition and continuity prevailed as when the 1829 Ponds Church building was demolished during the Depression, its stones were preserved and used to construct the Ponds Memorial Building in 1936, an enlarged duplicate of the 1829 church. Hence today, it has the original stones from the Ponds Church of 1740 built 274 years ago.

As a footnote, on January 30, 1955 the then mayor made a presentation to the Elders of the Ponds Church proposing that the church be torn down and moved to property that was for sale by Oakland. That proposal was made when the population of Oakland was expanding and the church building was ‘in the way’ of the forthcoming strip mall containing the original Grand Union. The Elders listened respectfully and then voted to immediately begin to raise funds to construct a new and enlarged church building on the current site. Thank God that someone has vision at the time.

A Naked Truth

Lisley Boone perhaps working on a sermon.

The Ponds Church has through its history been blessed with many outstanding pastors that led it and this community. While each sought to expose the congregation to the wonders of God, there was one who sought to expose a bit more. The pastor’s name was Rev. Lisley Boone and he was the pastor of the Ponds Church in the early 1930’s. Well, it seems that he had a particular fondness for nature and all things natural in that he had a small nudist colony on his property which, as noted above, was church property. It didn’t take too long for his lifestyle to be exposed to the conservative Dutch congregation and it took less time for them to react. The Elders very strongly suggested (demanded) that he immediately cease his naked ways whereupon he made a series of counter demands in order for him to peacefully resign. Their response was swift: He was fired with the prayer that the church door wouldn’t hit his naked butt on the way out. He went on to found the American Nudist Society and was indicted by the US Post Office for sending pornography, his American Nudist Magazine, through the mail.

If it possible to summarize the enormous impact that the Ponds Church has had, it can be said that Oakland and the Ponds Church were fully interchangeable. They were the same. The values taught from the pulpit and embraced by its members literally guided this community for well over 250 years bringing a decency and a set of values first to the wilderness and then well into modern life. Oakland never was a theocracy and the Ponds Church never attempted to make it such. Rather, it simply influenced and guided its God-fearing members to live and guide their community with the principals of their faith which they did and to which we now are witnesses. All generations of Oaklanders are literally in its debt.

Kevin Heffernan – kheffernan555@gmail.com