SENATE STATE GOVERNMENT, WAGERING, TOURISM & HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

SENATE, No. 3174

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED:  NOVEMBER 7, 2022

 

      The Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism and Historic Preservation Committee reports favorably Senate Bill No. 3174.

     This bill provides a supplemental appropriation of $150,000 to the Department of State for the Old School Baptist Church and Meeting House located in the Borough of Hopewell, Mercer County.  The bill requires the funding to be used to establish a program that educates and informs the public on the impact of the Old School Baptist Church on the development of Hopewell Borough and the surrounding community.

     The Old School Baptist Church and Meeting House was originally built in the late 1740s on land donated by John Hart.  Mr. Hart, one of five delegates from New Jersey to the Second Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, is buried in a cemetery that is part of the church property.