Survival is not new to Waterloo Church

Byram - While it might seem strange to pass white trucks marked State Ranger on the way to church, and occasionally be questioned by rangers, the parishioners of the Waterloo United Methodist Church know it’s just another chapter in a long history of threats and survival. The latest threat to the tiny white church overlooking the Musconectong River came with the cancelling of a management lease for Waterloo by the state Department of Environmental Protection. Over the years, economic hardships, a freak tornado and the possibility of a reservoir at Saxton Falls all came close to closing the church, which has been on this site since 1859. “My first feeling was a sense of loss,” the church’s pastor, the Rev. David Jones, recalled in a recent interview. “There were good people who worked for the foundation.” More practical concerns also came to mind. Jones noted about one-third of the church’s operating budget comes from building use fees, mostly for weddings for couples who want to take advantage of the beautiful and historic setting. With a 100-member congregation and two buildings to maintain, the church relies on those rental fees. Jones said he will attend both public meetings scheduled for Jan. 24 to discuss the fate of the site. Other representatives of the church will also be at either the 2 p.m. or 6 p.m. meeting, he said. He and his church members were heartened by the quick intervention of State Sen. Robert Littell, who is working to find a solution to the problem. Budgetary problems caused the state to eliminate a subsidy to the foundation which was not able to operate in the black without it. DEP spokeswoman Elaine Makatura said the state is looking for an interested party who can run the village, which contains a canal museum, blacksmith’s shop, candlemaking shop and many other historic buildings, as well as a replica Lenni Lenape settlement on an island in the river. The pastor said he is optimistic someone will be found to operate the village. He said he has spoken to DEP representatives and is convinced the state is committed to solving this problem. State rangers patrol the premises and were stopping parishioners, Sunday School teacher Betsy Volk said, but have become comfortable with the church and its activities, which included the Sunday School Christmas pageant and a performance by the New Jersey Sax Ensemble this weekend. The rangers are diligent about questioning others who roam the property, Jones said. He said three men were detained by the rangers when they didn’t have good excuses for being on the grounds. “This is our village, we’re used to being able to allow our kids to go anywhere,” he noted to the congregation Sunday, “but now the message is out that the village is closed.” The pastor urged his congregants to keep a closer eye on their kids now. The church’s cornerstone was laid in August 1859 after four years of attempts to establish a church at Andover Forge, the original name of the village which housed the four forges used for iron ore mined at Andover. The nearest church at the time was in Lockwood, established in 1835. The building was constructed for $2,993.22, according to a history of the church prepared in 1994. The cost included the bell, furniture, sidewalks and four spittoons. Between the forges, and later the Morris Canal, the village was busy and prosperous until highways and new development relegated the village to a sleepy hamlet. In 1981, a tornado tore through the village sending a tree through the roof of the parish house and dropping the church’s chandelier to the floor. But acts of nature posed lesser dangers than acts of the state. Starting in 1962, the state began discussing a dam at Saxton Falls to create a “Hackettstown reservoir.” This would have flooded the village and the church. Then in 1971, the state said the reservoir would be built by 1983. Only the intervention of the late Wayne Dumont, then a state senator, kept the church open until actual construction. The church board refused to sell, and eventually the project was dropped. Abandoning the dam project also saved the village, which was opened as an historic restoration by Percival Leach, who had been buying and restoring buildings in the village since establishing the Waterloo Foundation for the Arts in 1963. Waterloo became a destination for families, scouts and class trips, as well as a venue for jazz and folk festivals, arts, crafts and antique fairs and the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. The Meeting House was a favorite location for meetings, banquets and wedding receptions following services in the church. In spite of its size, the Waterloo Church does significant outreach. This year, as the angels, shepherds and wisemen dressed for the pageant Sunday, a long table in the parish house was laden with gift bags for Birth Haven and Sunrise House in Newton. Under outreach coordinator Inge Tiefau, gifts for the mothers, as well as baby items, were collected and ready to bring to a luncheon in Newton on Tuesday.