Swack Church

The Swack Church was founded by Reverend Lambert Swackhamer (1805-1857), a Lutheran minister from Middle Valley, New Jersey and the son of Stephen Swackhamer and Jane Swackhamer (née Bowman). Lambert Swackhamer, early in his life, moved to Hartwick, New York, where he attended Hartwick Seminary, graduating in 1831. He was assigned as the pastor of the Lutheran church in Manheim, New York, but withdrew from the synod there due to a doctrinal dispute. He accepted a position in the synod of his hometown, Hartwick, but eventually resigned there as well due to their support of slavery. He co-founded his own synod, the Franckean Synod, in 1837. The Franckean Synod was eventually declared "un-Lutheran" and disbanded, and Swackhamer returned to the Hartwick congregation.^[1]

In 1844, Swackhamer moved his family back to the area of his birth, in Long Valley, New Jersey.^[1] Swackhamer may have been hoping to receive the pastorship of the local Zion Lutheran Church (situated in present-day Oldwick, New Jersey), but was turned down, prompting him to found his own church in nearby Lebanon.^[2]

Swackhamer was donated land for his church at Mount Bethel in Lebanon by Moore Castner. The new church was named for the mason who built it, Jacob Swackhammer (aka "Stuttering Jake", b. 1793). The "Swacke Church", as it was originally spelled, was constructed in 1844 at Mount Bethel. It was a stone building covered in stucco, and evidence suggests the roof may have been elevated to accommodate a balcony. As was typical of churches at this time, there was no fireplace or chimney. Instead, and area of the dirt floor near the center of the building would have been prepared for a pile of hot coals, with a smoke stack in the roof directly above it. Swackhamer and his family occupied a log cabin near the church, and a small burial ground occupied the grounds.^[1]

In 1850, Lambert Swackhamer accepted the pastorship of the Lutheran Church in Berne, New York, where he lived until his death on November 2, 1857. Moore Castner took possession of the land the church and associated structures occupied, and sold it to a local Methodist congregation led by a minister by the name of Albright. The Albright congregation could not afford the property, however, and the church was re-organized for use by local Lutherans once again. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Jersey purchased the property from Castner in 1868. The Spruce Run Evangelical Lutheran Zion Church in Spruce Run, New Jersey used the Swack Church as an outpost until 1896, when the property was abandoned. It gradually became overgrown and the church covered in vines, until an attempt was made to save the structure was undertaken by the local legion in the 1930s. After that, the Swack Church was mostly forgotten for over half a century, to the point that by 2010, the pastor of the Spruce Run Church did not even know its location.^[2]