Scotch Hill Church

           Scotch Hill Presbyterian Church is officially 164 years old, though it seems to have been unofficially in operation for something closer to 176 years.  I've never heard a good explanation for the name, since it's not on a hill but on relatively level wooded terrain.  The building dates back to 1851.

           Some say that the mounds of earth over the graves in the cemetery were called "hills," and so the church was originally known as "Scotch Hills" in reference to the graves.  The small graveyard is worth a visit.

           I'm mostly interested in the meetinghouse architecture.  It's a unique design that you find replicated among early Protestant churches throughout Northwestern Pennsylvania.  Wolf Creek Church, Amity Church, and Mill Creek Church--all Presbyterian and all near Grove City--are identical to it.  The unusual windows are clear glass in deference to the Puritan influences that used to dominate American Presbyterianism.  But the windows are also arched in a neo-Gothic style that is reminiscent of the stained glass back in Scotland.  One side of the room was for women and girls; the other side was for men and boys.  That's why there are two front doors.  Just like a pair of modern restrooms, you had to enter the door assigned to your sex.  Once inside, there was no center aisle, but a low partition, running right down the middle of the room, separated the men's pews from the women's pews.  Families could kind of sit together in the same row, but the females and males would be separated by a low wall.  You couldn't do that nowadays because most men--especially up in the North country--only go to church if their wives drag them there and supervise their every move until the last hymn is sung.