Zarephath (, ) is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

(CDP) and located in Franklin Township, in Somerset County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States, about north of

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

.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 The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

. Accessed February 11, 2013.New Jersey: 2010 - Population and Housing Unit Counts - 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH-2-32)

, August 2012. Accessed February 11, 2013. As of the

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...

, Zarephath's population was 37.DP-1 - Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data for Zarephath CDP, New Jersey
,

. Accessed June 278, 2012. It was the communal home of the

Pillar of Fire Church The Pillar of Fire International, also known as the Pillar of Fire Church, is a Methodist Christian denomination with headquarters in Zarephath, New Jersey. The Pillar of Fire Church affirms the Methodist Articles of Religion and as of 1988, had ...

, and was the worldwide headquarters of Pillar of Fire International, which comprises the church's college, Somerset Christian College, and radio station

WAWZ WAWZ (99.1 FM) is a contemporary Christian music radio station located in Zarephath, New Jersey. It is a listener supported/commercial radio station owned by the Pillar of Fire International. The station's target demographic is 25- to 54-year-ol ...

-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 Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My El (deity), God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic language, Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) w ...

. Zarephath was a group of buildings located between the

Delaware and Raritan Canal The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelp ...

and the

Millstone River The Millstone River is a tributary of the Raritan River in central New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden State Canoeing'', Seneca Press, 2002. The Millstone River begins in western Monmouth County and flows westward throu ...

. Following the flooding in 2011 from

Hurricane Irene Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 ...

, the College and all Pillar of Fire ministries were ordered to move out of this

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

. The original campus has been slated for demolition and a new campus in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

was established.Campus Updates
Somerset Christian College, November 8, 2011, backed up by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

as of February 6, 2012. Accessed February 8, 2020.

Geography

According to the

, 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 Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. 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

. 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 New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

on November 14, 1916. Informal college level classes were held starting in 1917.

Alma White College Alma White College was a Bible college in Zarephath, New Jersey from 1921 to 1978. It was an institution of the Pillar of Fire Church. The academic institution is now succeeded by Pillar College. History In June 1917 an elderly German professor ...

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 Arthur Kent White (March 15, 1889 – September 16, 1981) was a bishop, and the general superintendent of the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, New Jersey, and the president of Belleview College. The church was started by his mother, Alma ...

received an honorary one; and

Alton Milford Young Alton Milford Young (May 24, 1884 – July 16, 1950) was the Grand or Imperial Kaliff and the Imperial Kludd of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey. The Imperial Kludd is the chaplain of the Imperial Klonvokation and he performs "such other duties as ...

received the second. Young at one time was the Grand Kaliff of the

Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey The Ku Klux Klan has had a history in the U.S. state of New Jersey since the early part of the 1920s. The Klan was active in the areas of Trenton and Camden and it also had a presence in several of the state's northern counties in the 1920s. It ...

. Somerset Christian College was established on March 23, 2001. Somerset Christian College is licensed by the

New Jersey Commission on Higher Education The New Jersey Commission on Higher Education is a government agency in New Jersey that is responsible for providing coordination, planning, policy development, and advocacy for the state's higher education system. The Commission is also responsibl ...

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 Tropical Storm Doria was the costliest tropical cyclone in the 1971 Atlantic hurricane season. The fifth tropical storm of the season, Doria developed from a tropical wave on August 20 to the east of the Lesser Antilles, and after five days with ...

in 1971 and

Hurricane Floyd Hurricane Floyd was a very powerful Cape Verde hurricane which struck the Bahamas and the East Coast of the United States. It was the sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and third major hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Floyd tr ...

in September 1999 brought record

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

s to the areas adjacent to the

, 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 The Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, built in the 1830s, that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelp ...

. 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.

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

. 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.

Footnotes

External links

Zarephath CemeteryPillar of FireFranklin Township Public Library Photo Archive of Zarephath
compiled by William B. Brahms *

(''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