According to the United States Census Bureau, Zarephath had a total area of 0.445 square miles, including 0.404 square miles of it is land and 0.041 square miles of water is water.
Demographics
Census 2010
Origins
The site was originally a farm owned by Peter Workman Garretson in Franklin Township. He married Caroline Van Neste Field, who became a follower of Alma Bridwell White, then based in Denver, Colorado. Field donated the land to the church after meeting her. The church assumed all debts associated with the mortgage on the property, which were considerable; it was agreed the church would take title to the land upon repayment of the mortgage. Zarephath was named from a phrase in 1 Kings 17, because White saw a parallel with relocation to a farm and the story of Elijah and a widow. Pillar of Fire International takes its name from a phrase used in Exodus 13:21: "He guided the Israelites on their escape from Egypt by giving them a pillar of fire to light their way across the dark wilderness". It was founded by Alma White in 1901 and originally called the Pentecostal Union. They moved to Franklin Township in 1907 or 1908. The organization is also located in Denver, Colorado. The name was changed from The Pentecostal Union to Pillar of Fire in October 1917 as the group identified as Methodist rather than Pentecostal. It is now known as Pillar of Fire International. The buildings on the grounds were built by members of the Zarephath community, as they stressed self-reliance. They farmed a portion of the property.
Education
The Zarephath Bible Institute was founded in 1908 as a "training school for missionaries, preachers, and teachers." It was later renamed the Zarephath Bible Seminary. On September 11, 1912, the Zarephath Academy opened with an enrollment of fifty students, five of them ready for high school. "At this time, the doors were formally opened to all who wanted an education under Christian control, high school as well as elementary." It was later renamed Alma Preparatory School. The first high school graduation exercises, for a class of four, were held at the Pillar of Fire Temple on June 12, 1916. The school was accredited by the New Jersey State Board of Education on November 14, 1916. Informal college level classes were held starting in 1917. Alma White College was chartered in 1921 and operated until 1978. In 1923 the Ku Klux Klan provided funding for the school, making it "the second institution in the north avowedly run by the Ku Klux Klan to further its aims and principles." The first two Doctor of Divinity degrees, one honorary, were conferred in 1927. Arthur Kent White received an honorary one; and Alton Milford Young received the second. Young at one time was the Grand Kaliff of the Ku Klux Klan in New Jersey. Somerset Christian College was established on March 23, 2001. Somerset Christian College is licensed by the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education to grant a two-year Associate Degree in Biblical Studies. Starting in the Fall of 2006, they offered a 4-year degree.
Floods of 1971, 1999 and 2011
in 1971 and Hurricane Floyd in September 1999 brought record floods to the areas adjacent to the Millstone River, which is located along one edge of the Zarephath campus. Despite maintaining a twelve-foot-high floodlevee, Zarephath was inundated with water from the nearby river and Delaware and Raritan canal. In 1999 the flood crest was a record one, over three feet higher than the previously recorded crest in the river basin. The water level in the Zarephath compound was seven feet at the height of the flood. The church's damage from Floyd was estimated at $2.5 million. Hurricane Irene destroyed much of the campus again in late August 2011 According to the Somerset Christian College website, authorities have ordered the Zarephath Campus to be abandoned because of its location in the floodplain. The school has since renamed itself Pillar College and located elsewhere in Somerset. It also conducts some classes in Newark.
Davis Burial Ground
The Davis Burial Ground is on Weston Canal Road near the Delaware and Raritan Canal. It contains about 100 graves with maybe 50 extant tombstones, including those of Simeon Van Nortwick II, son of Simeon Van Nortwick I of Utrecht, Netherlands and Folkease Volkertje. On the opposite side of the canal is a similar cemetery, Van Nest – Weston Burying Ground in Manville.
