Zarephath, New Jersey

Zarephath (, ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) and located in Franklin Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, about north of Princeton.GCT-PH1 - Population, Housing Units, Area, and Density: 2010 - County -- County Subdivision and Place from the 2010 Census Summary File 1 for Somerset County, New Jersey
, United States Census Bureau. Accessed February 11, 2013.New Jersey: 2010 - Population and Housing Unit Counts - 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH-2-32)
United States Census Bureau, August 2012. Accessed February 11, 2013. As of the 2010 United States Census, Zarephath's population was 37.DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data for Zarephath CDP, New Jersey
, United States Census Bureau. Accessed June 278, 2012.

It was the communal home of the Pillar of Fire Church, and was the worldwide headquarters of Pillar of Fire International, which comprises the church's college, Somerset Christian College, and radio station WAWZ-FM (the farm and publishing facilities have not been in operation since the late 1970s). It is named after Zarephath, the place in the Bible where the " widow woman" sustained the prophet Elijah. Zarephath was a group of buildings located between the Delaware and Raritan Canal and the Millstone River. Following the flooding in 2011 from Hurricane Irene, the College and all Pillar of Fire ministries were ordered to move out of this floodplain. The original campus has been slated for demolition and a new campus in Somerset was established.Campus Updates
Somerset Christian College, November 8, 2011, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 6, 2012. Accessed February 8, 2020.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Zarephath had a total area of 0.445 square miles (1.152 km²), including 0.404 square miles (1.047 km²) of it is land and 0.041 square miles (0.105 km²) of water (9.12%) is water.

Demographics

Census 2010

Origins

The site was originally a farm owned by Peter Workman Garretson in Franklin Township. He married Caroline Van Neste Field, who became a follower of Alma Bridwell White, then based in Denver, Colorado. Field donated the land to the church after meeting her. The church assumed all debts associated with the mortgage on the property, which were considerable; it was agreed the church would take title to the land upon repayment of the mortgage. Zarephath was named from a phrase in 1 Kings 17, because White saw a parallel with relocation to a farm and the story of Elijah and a widow.

Pillar of Fire International takes its name from a phrase used in Exodus 13:21: "He guided the Israelites on their escape from Egypt by giving them a pillar of fire to light their way across the dark wilderness". It was founded by Alma White in 1901 and originally called the Pentecostal Union. They moved to Franklin Township in 1907 or 1908. The organization is also located in Denver, Colorado. The name was changed from The Pentecostal Union to Pillar of Fire in October 1917 as the group identified as Methodist rather than Pentecostal. It is now known as Pillar of Fire International. The buildings on the grounds were built by members of the Zarephath community, as they stressed self-reliance. They farmed a portion of the property.

Education

The Zarephath Bible Institute was founded in 1908 as a "training school for missionaries, preachers, and teachers." It was later renamed the Zarephath Bible Seminary.

On September 11, 1912, the Zarephath Academy opened with an enrollment of fifty students, five who were ready for high school. "At this time, the doors were formally opened to all who wanted an education under Christian control, high school as well as elementary." It was later renamed Alma Preparatory School. The first high school graduation exercises, for a class of four, were held at the Pillar of Fire Temple on June 12, 1916. The school was accredited by the New Jersey State Board of Education on November 14, 1916.

Informal college level classes were held starting in 1917.

Alma White College was chartered in 1921 and operated until 1978. In 1923 the Ku Klux Klan provided funding for the school, making it "the second institution in the north avowedly run by the Ku Klux Klan to further its aims and principles." The first two Doctor of Divinity degrees, one honorary, were conferred in 1927. Arthur Kent White received an honorary one; and Alton Milford Young received the second. Young at one time was the Grand Kaliff of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey.

Somerset Christian College was established on March 23, 2001. Somerset Christian College is licensed by the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education to grant a two-year associate degree in Biblical studies. Starting in the fall of 2006, they offered a 4-year degree.

Floods of 1971, 1999 and 2011

Tropical Storm Doria in 1971 and Hurricane Floyd in September 1999 brought record floods to the areas adjacent to the Millstone River, which is located along one edge of the Zarephath campus. Despite maintaining a twelve-foot-high flood levee, Zarephath was inundated with water from the nearby river and Delaware and Raritan canal. In 1999 the flood crest was a record one, over three feet higher than the previously recorded crest in the river basin. The water level in the Zarephath compound was seven feet at the height of the flood. The church's damage from Floyd was estimated at $2.5 million.

Hurricane Irene destroyed much of the campus again in late August 2011
According to the Somerset Christian College website, authorities have ordered the Zarephath Campus to be abandoned because of its location in the floodplain. The school has since renamed itself Pillar College and located elsewhere in Somerset. It also conducts some classes in Newark.

Davis Burial Ground

The Davis Burial Ground is on Weston Canal Road near the Delaware and Raritan Canal. It contains about 100 graves with maybe 50 extant tombstones, including those of Simeon Van Nortwick II (1724-1813), son of Simeon Van Nortwick I (1687-1774) of Utrecht, Netherlands and Folkease Volkertje (1690-?). On the opposite side of the canal is a similar cemetery, Van Nest – Weston Burying Ground in Manville.

Gallery

File:Music ensemble at Alma White College, Pillar of Fire Church (ca. 1920).jpg, Music ensemble broadcast at Alma White College, Pillar of Fire Church, on WAWZ Radio, Zarephath, New Jersey circa 1920
File:Zarephath.jpg, Historical photo of Zarephath campus from '' Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty'', 1926
File:The Old Canal Bridge (Zarephath, NJ, ca 1915).jpg, The Old Canal Bridge, Zarephath Academy Zarephath, New Jersey
File:Zarephath NJ - Main Building - July 2017.jpg, The Main Building in Zarephath, New Jersey, built in the early 1900s, in 2015.

See also

* ''The Good Citizen''

Footnotes

Further reading

*
*''Alma White's Evangelism Press Reports,'' compiled by C. R. Paige and C.K. Ingler (1939)
*Kristin E. Kandt; 'In the Name of God; An American Story of Feminism, Racism, and Religious Intolerance: The Story of Alma Bridwell White,' 8 ''Am. U. J. Gender, Soc. Pol. & L'' 753 (2000)
*''Christianizing the Klan: Alma White, Branford Clarke, and the Art of Religious Intolerance'' by Lynn S. Neal; June 2009
*
*

External links

Zarephath CemeteryPillar of FireFranklin Township Public Library Photo Archive of Zarephath
compiled by William B. Brahms
*WAWZ (''Star 99.1 FM''); Zarephath, New Jersey; Owner: Pillar of Fire - Religious oriented music radio station
Documented Ku Klux Klan Gatherings at Zarephath

{{Somerset County, New Jersey

Census-designated places in Somerset County, New Jersey
Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey
Pillar of Fire International