The walls are very thick, and it has square buttresses at the corners. It was altered and repaired in 1811, at an expense of nearly four thousand dollars. The roof (formerly steep) was raised, an upper row of windows was formed, and a gallery was constructed within. The height of the old windows is indicated by the arches seen over the present square ones, and the eaves were just above the key-stones. The original tower, with its steeple, was similar to the one at Caughnawaga.
The tower, or belfry, was open, and in it was placed a swivel for the protection of the inhabitants against the Indians, or to sound an alarm to the people on the neighboring hills. The pulpit, although newly constructed when the church was repaired, is precisely the same, in style, as the original. I he sounding-board and panels in front are handsomely painted in imitation of inlaid work, and the whole has an elegant appearance. This church has never been without a pastor since its construction in 1767, yet only two ministers have presided over the flock during eighty years of its existence. The first was the Rev. Abraham Rosenkrans. Before the church was built, he preached to the people in that region in their dwellings, school-houses, and barns. He was installed pastor of the church in 1767, and remained there until his death in 1796, when his remains were deposited beneath the pulpit.
He was succeeded by the Rev. John P. Spinner, from Germany, who preached in the German language exclusively until within twenty years, and afterward in English and German alternately. He died in May, 1848.
A few rods west of the church was the large stone mansion of the Herkimer family, which was stockaded and called Fort Herkimer.
Around this, and the church, the humbler dwellings of the farmers were clustered, for so frequently did the Indian marauder (and as frequently the unprincipled Tory, in the Revolution) disturb them, that they dared not live in isolation. Fort Herkimer became a prey to public vandalism when the Erie Canal was built. The waters flow in part over the site of the fort, and its stones, so easily quarried, were used in the construction of a lock near by.
Two miles further westward, on a gravelly plain upon the north side of the river, is the pretty little village of Herkimer. It occupies the site of old Fort Herkimer, erected in the early part of the Seven Years' War, and known as Fort Dayton during the Revolution, occurrences at which we have already mentioned. This beautiful region, like
* It was built upon the north side of the old German burying-ground. Near the southern wall of this church is a large brown sandstone slab, placed there by the provincial government, on which is the following inscription: "Here reposes the body of John Ring, Esq., of the Kingdom of Ireland, a CAPTAIN OF HIS MAJESTY'S INDEPENDENT COMPANY OF THE PROVINCE, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE 20TH day of September, 1755, in the 30th year of his age." Near this church, it is said, was raised the first liberty-pole in 1775. White, the sheriff of Tryon county at that time, came up with a large body of militia from Johnstown and cut it down.