Upon This Rock: Salvage Archaeology at the Early-Eighteenth-Century Holmdel Baptist Church

Religion has played an integral role in the settlement and growth of the United States since the earliest days of colonization. Aside from economic opportunity, freedom of religion and the desire to worship unmolested were the primary factors behind emigration to the U.S. during the 17th and 18th centuries. Church structures, or "meetinghouses," were often the center for both secular and sacred activities. Town meetings to discuss civil affairs were held on weekdays under the same roofs as religious services conducted on Sundays. Recent repairs in the basement crawlspace of the Holmdel Baptist Church of Holmdel, New Jersey, built ca. 1705, necessitated an emergency salvage effort prior to the removal of nearly two feet of soil from under the church. This endeavor uncovered a wealth of artifacts and features that provides valuable insight into the design and dimension of the earliest section of the structure as well as the activities, beliefs, and social standing of the Baptist congregation.