Abington Presbyterian celebrates 300 years

ABINGTON Before it was hemmed in by stores, offices, hospitals, and homes, Abington Presbyterian Church stood apart in the Montgomery County landscape, a Romanesque sanctuary "whose steeple, crowning the hills, can be seen afar for many miles," as a pastor wrote in 1889.

For 70 years before the current church was built, the church occupied a simpler stone meetinghouse. And for 70 years before that, congregants worshipped in a modest log cabin nestled beneath a tree on a corner of the reverend's farm.

This year, Abington Presbyterian is stepping back in time to celebrate its 1714 founding with a series of history-themed events, concerts, and guest preachers.

On March 16, the church held a recital for its newly restored Mller pipe organ, which had been out of service since 2011.

And on Saturday, a group of volunteers built a replica of that log cabin, roughly 12 feet by 20 feet, with simple slab benches similar to the original pews.

"I lay up at night and think about how it's going to look," said John Dean, a banker and amateur carpenter who planned the construction. "Nobody truly knows what it looked like."

Dean said he and architect Brian Fey, both members of the congregation, designed the cabin as accurately as they could by relying on descriptions from old church records and books.

Church leaders hope the cabin, standing in clear view of the endless stream of drivers on Old York Road, will spark meditation on a simpler time and respect for the forebears who made Abington what it is today.

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Abington Presbyterian celebrates 300 years