Middle Spring Presbyterian Church
The Middle Spring Presbyterian Church was built in the Province of Pennsylvania in 1738 by early Scotch Irish settlers. It has been mentioned frequently in the histories of the early days of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in general.
Located in the small community of Middle Spring, Pennsylvania, on present-day Pennsylvania State Route 4001, it is situated two and six-tenths miles north of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
Scotch-Irish Settlers
Sometime around 1730, a group of Scotch Irish immigrants settled in the area of Pennsylvania that would later become Cumberland County. The Scotch Irish were among the earliest of the settlers who chose to make their homes in this frontier region of Colonial America. According to historian Wayland F. Dunaway:Founding of the Church
Presbyterian preaching began on this site in the open air as early as 1736. Two years later, Presbyterian Church officials erected a new building here, close to the bank of the small Middle Spring creek that ran through the area, a common practice of Scotch-Irish settlers in the Cumberland Valley that enabled settlers to live and work near available, abundant sources of water. The first building was a log church, which became not only a house of worship but a gathering place for the earliest immigrants. They called the church site "Middle Spring", because it was located midway between two other water sources in the area, 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 with the precentor's desk positioned just below, in the front.In those days, the Middle Spring area was very much a part of a rugged frontier; encounters with Indigenous peoples were common, some of which were violent.