Middle Spring Presbyterian Church

The Middle Spring Presbyterian Church was first built in 1738 by some of the earliest Scotch Irish settlers in Pennsylvania, and is much discussed in the histories of early Pennsylvania in general and Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in particular.

Middle Spring Presbyterian Church is located in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in the small community of Middle Spring, Pennsylvania on present day Pennsylvania State Route 4001 (old Pennsylvania 696), two and six-tenths miles north of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. A group of Scotch Irish immigrants settled in this area in about 1730. The Scotch Irish were the earliest settlers on the Pennsylvania frontier of the early 18th century. As one author puts it:

As pioneers, they were the advance guard blazing the trail through the wilderness far out on the frontier. They were the first line of defense against the savages, bearing the brunt of the Indian wars, and courageously enduring the hardships of pioneer life as the typical frontiersmen of provincial Pennsylvania. Step by step they had advanced along a perilous path, surmounting whatever difficulties arose, moving ever farther into the wilderness and reclaiming it to the new civilization.

In those days, the Middle Spring area was very much a part of this rugged frontier, where Indian attacks were common. Many of these early settlers fell victim to these attacks. These immigrants brought their Scotch Presbyterian origins with them. Presbyterian preaching began on this site in the open air as early as 1736. These settlers erected a Presbyterian Church building at this Middle Spring site in 1738, close to the bank of the small Middle Spring creek that ran through the area. The pioneer Scotch-Irish settlers in the Cumberland Valley almost always built their churches near streams and springs to have available an abundant source of water. The first building was a log church, which became not only a house of worship but a gathering place for the early settlers in the area. There are two other springs in the area – Big Spring and Rocky Spring. They called the church site "Middle Spring", because it was located midway between the Big Spring and the Rocky Spring. The church was thirty-five feet square. It had slab benches, a dirt floor and was unheated. The pulpit was high and was set against the wall. The precentor's desk was positioned right below and in front of it.

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