Standing today at one of America’s most historic intersections  —  the confluence of Old York Road and Susquehanna Street Road dating back to 1693  —  are the subtle reminders of third oldest Presbyterian Church established in Pennsylvania and its deep history.

Located at that intersection is the Abington Presbyterian Cemetery, which dates back to 1719. Three hundred and ten years ago , visionary Pastor Malachi Jones sold one half acre of his own farmland to establish a burying ground and a House of Public Worship in the center of the present-day cemetery.

The original building ,  which we suppose was a log structure in 1719 due to the need for fast construction, stood as a welcome site for travelers making the journey on Old York Road and through Abington’s Ward 11 both south to Philadelphia and north to the present-day suburbs.

Abington Presbyterian’s first Church saw amazing developments all around it. The first burial in the cemetery was in 1728. It saw America declare Independence in 1776, had its stone church walls utilized as defensive barricades to repel British and Hessian Troops in 1777, had its surrounding land captured by Lord Howe at the Battle of Edge Hill. It saw Pennsylvania become the second in these United States in 1787.

Finally in 1793 ,  needing a larger home for its congregation and riding a national wave of reconstruction after the Revolutionary War,  a new church was constructed on the opposite side of Old York Road. Over the years, the original church was disassembled.

In 2014  —  the three-hundred year anniversary of Reverend Jones and that original group of seventy members forming the first congregation  —  a replica of the first log house of worship was built on the current church’s front lawn.

Today, If you walk from the Parking Lot of the adjacent Urgent Care Center or walk down Old York Road and stand in the middle of Abington Presbyterian Church Cemetery amongst the time-soaked gravestones and its old stone parameter walls , you cannot help but instantly feel that deep sense of history. Right outside of the cemetery gates is a restored mileage marker indicating ten miles to Philadelphia and eight to Rising Sun which was part of an initiative by Benjamin Franklin and restored by the church in 2011.

Some years ago, a tree on Brook Road that was rumored to be from the time of the Revolutionary War (just south of the cemetery) was taken down. Upon examination, the remaining cords of wood had lead bullets embedded in their interior sections, further evidence of the long-rumored skirmishes with the British just in front of the old log church. When the tree was dated, it was indeed confirmed to be from the time of the 1700s.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.