In December, 1791. John Hallock, whose lands extended from his residence, a mile south of Ridgeberry, across the flats and to Brookfield, deeded a lot to the church for its use. In 1792 the new meeting house was erected on the lot. In those days the difference between the meaning of church (an organization for religious worship) and the building used for meeting purposes was clearly defined, and the edifice was called a meeting house invariably. The building at first was without a steeple and just as it stands to this day, except it now has a steeple. The steeple was added to it in 1828. The church interior is to-day just as it was first built and should be preserved as an excellent specimen of old-time architecture.
A Congregational church was organized in Ridgeberry in 1792, which held until 1817, when it was changed to Presbyterian. The regular organization of the church dates from November 27, 1805, when a certificate of it was filed at the house of Jonathan Bailey in Ridgeberry.
The next oldest church organization to Ridgeberry was the Presbyterian as Centerville. This was incorporated April 5, 1827. The church edifice was built and dedicated in 1829.
The Presbyterian church of Denton was organized and dedicated in 1839.
The Methodist Episcopal church, at what is now called South Centerville, was incorporated September 8, 1873.
[CHAPTER XXXI.]
TOWN OF WOODBURY.
The town of Woodbury is located in the southeast section of Orange County. Bounded on the north by the towns of Blooming Grove and Cornwall, on the east by the town of Highland, on the south by Rockland County and the town of Tuxedo, while the town of Monroe forms its western boundary. It has an area of 23,839 acres, and the title to the soil is mainly derived through the Chesekook patent. The assessed valuation of real estate in the town in 1907 was $802,371.
Topography.—A striking feature of the town is the continuous valley extending from the northern to the southern boundary which divides the town into nearly equal parts, and which has been made the line of the Newburgh short-cut branch of the Erie railroad, and of the new State road. Through this valley flows Woodbury Creek northward, uniting in the town of Cornwall with Moodna Creek. Not far south of the sources of Woodbury Creek are the headwaters of the Ramapo, which flows southward through the town of Tuxedo. The summit between these two valleys is low, and the rivulets of the two streams flowing in opposite directions are found very near to each other. The eastern portion of the town is drained by Popolopen Creek in the town of Highlands. Numerous ponds of surpassing beauty are within the town limits, of which Cromwell, Forest and Cranberry Lakes are the largest.
The Schunnemunk Mountains, appropriately described as the "high hills to the west of the Highlands," extend along the northwestern boundary of the town and are divided longitudinally by the boundary line of Blooming Grove and Woodbury. This was the original dividing line between the Wawayanda and Chesekook patents, and also one of the monuments in the line of the Evans patent. This range has an elevation of from 1,300 to 1,600 feet. Eastward across the valley filling out to a section of the southeast border of the county and forming a portion of the Highlands, is a battlement of mountainous elevations, including Pine Hill, Black Cap, Cranberry Hill, Stockbridge, Stevens, Goshen, Letter-rock and Black Mountains.