USA > Connecticut > Some old time meeting houses of the Connecticut Valley > Part 2
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The fine steeples of the old houses of worship in the Connecticut valley are imitations of English spires of the seventeenth century built by Sir Christopher Wren, which in turn were an English modification of Italian spires of an earlier time. A peculiarity of the spires of the period is the investment of the Gothic form with a clothing of Italian architecture.
From what has been written it may be seen that in the period beginning with the first settlements and closing with the middle of the last century four classes of meeting houses were built in the Connecticut valley towns. The first houses of worship were small rude structures that may be regarded as only a temporary provision for the religious needs of the settlers. The structures which followed the first houses were larger and made of better material. They were constructed with more regard to ecclesiastical proprieties and some of these structures were used for fifty or even seventy five years, before giving place to their successors.
The third class of meeting houses built by our forefathers were, in many instances, stately structures. The houses of worship in Farmington, Connecticut, Springfield and Northampton in Massachusetts were good examples of this class.
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Most of the meeting houses of the fourth class were erected in the first half of the last century, many of them in the first and second decades of the century. The fine old churches, with their classical fronts and many storied spires, illustrated in the following sketches belong to this period. It will be seen that these churches bear a family resemblance to one another. Such houses of worship had already been built along the Atlantic seaboard.
The members of the historic Old South, Hallowell, Maine, of which the writer was pastor for several years, cherish traditions of a fine old house of worship erected in 1798. This church had a tall semi-circular pulpit reached by stairs on either side, extensive galleries sup- ported by beautiful columns, pews with high backs and doors, a handsome belfry tower designed by the famous architect, Charles Bulfinch, of Boston, and a bell purchased from Paul Revere in 1802. The loss of this venerable landmark by fire on a winter night, 1878, filled the entire community with sorrow. The ac- companying illustration is from a water-color sketch made by Miss Olive G. Hartwell of Boston.
It is probable that the builders of such houses of worship as the First Church of Christ in Springfield, erected in 1819, had in mind certain meeting houses in the eastern part of the state. Certainly the spire of the Old South Church of Boston had an important influence upon the designs used by the builders of some of the beautiful spires of the Connecticut valley towns in the first decades of the last century. It is probable that the spire of the church in Hadley, Massa- chusetts, was patterned after that of the Old North Church, Boston.
It is interesting to note that at first the people of New England did not attach the sanctity to the house of worship that is characteristic of the present gener-
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OLD SOUTH CHURCH, HALLOWELL, MAINE. ERECTED 1798
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MONTAGUE, MASS. ERECTED 1834
ation of church goers. The edifice was styled a meeting house because it was used for general purposes. In the first years of the settlements of New England the meeting house was some times fortified and used as a place of refuge. Many of the families of the first settlers were in this way saved from massacre by the Indians.
Often the meeting house in New England was built on a hill top and the guard in the turret, sweeping the entire region round about with his eye, could readily espy the approach of an enemy. In such a spot the meeting house was comparatively safe from destruction by fire and easily defended from attack by the enemy. Its sides were conspicuous places for the posting of notices, and hides of wild beasts were sometimes nailed to the meeting house to dry. We must not think that our forefathers were prone to idolatry because they sought out the high places of the land as sites for their religious altars.
Rev. John W. Harding, late pastor of the First Church of Christ in Longmeadow, in an address at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of the town of Longmeadow, gave a description of a Sabbath day, a century and a quarter ago, that may be fittingly in- corporated into the present sketch. The address was given in 1883. The portion alluded to is as follows: "It is a Sabbath day, one hundred years ago. The second bell-first peal. From north and south and east the tribes come up-the whole population, afoot, in wagons-the farm wagons without springs. Some are drawn by horses, the rest by oxen. The women and the younger children and the old men sit on straight backed chairs or milking stools; the young men and maidens, and the boys, line the wayside. The bell begins to toll. The congregation throng the meeting house steps, the porches, and the aisles. It is the day of greetings, the social exchange, the news-
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day, Dr. Williams at length emerges from the parson- age in gown and bands and powdered wig, three- cornered hat, knee breeches, silk or woolen stockings and silver shoe buckles. The bell will not stop tolling till he passes through the massive double door with iron-handled latch and into the high pulpit, with its carved work of grapes and pomegranates under the great sounding board. The deacons are seated in their railed pew beneath the pulpit.
There is no stove. For fifty-one years the frosty air of the new meeting house was only mitigated by the women's foot stoves and the cracking together of frozen boot heels. The parson sometimes preached in heavy homespun cloak and woolen mittens, and at the nooning, grateful indeed was the roaring fire in the great kitchen of the parsonage, at the tavern bar room, at all the hospitable neighbors' open houses. Comfort- ing were the homemade lunches, the apples roasting on the hearth, the cider, the hot cider, that is to say- the flip. The congregation stand up to pray-bodily infirmity alone prevents. If one sits down in prayer time, it is a sudden and emphatic protest against the parson's praying for the king and royal family. That habit clings to Dr. Williams a little beyond the patriotic sufferance. Not that he is a 'tory', or 'inimical to the liberties of America' by any settled convictions; only an old man, to whom the times look dark, and 'fears are in the way'. In due time he reads from the pulpit, though not without some misgivings, the Declaration of Independence, and gives his benediction to the soldiers as they march from the church door to the camp of General Washington. For fifty years the congregation sit down to sing; but after the deacon has ceased to line out the psalm, and the pitch pipe no longer toots, and the singing master has organized the choir, and the bass viols and flutes conspire with young
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men and maidens to make a joyful noise, they rise up, and face about to see the choir. Alas! the strife that raged awhile between the Psalter and Watt's Hymns; between free singing and that by rote-the unheavenly dissonance-'left', as Thomas Walter, the Roxbury pastor says, 'to the mercy of every unskilful throat to chop and alter, twist and change, according to their diverse fancies; and so little attention paid to time, that they were often one or two words apart, producing noises so hideous and disorderly as is bad beyond ex- pression'.
The gallery of the new meeting house runs around the east, south and west walls, square pews line the gallery walls, the negro pew is in the south west corner, the boys of twelve occupy the next pew, the boys of fourteen the next, those of eighteen the next, it having the extra advantage of a window, and the boys of sixteen the last pew on that side. A similar arrangement for the girls in the eastern gallery; the single men and women of discreet age occupy the pews lining the south gallery wall. The choir seats run all around the gallery front, and the smaller children sit on benches directly behind the choir. In such an arrangement the necessity for tithing men is great. The seats of honor are in the broad aisle pews below nearest the pulpit; the pews are all free, but the seating committee assign them. They are first instructed 'to wait on Dr. Williams and know his pleasure, what pew in the meeting house he chooses for his family to sit in'. But after that, no easy task this 'dignifying the house'. Age is one consideration, property another, standing another".
So far as the records show, the congregation in Hadley, Massachusetts, was the first to make use of an iron stove, a stove having been placed in the Hadley meeting house in 1730. This action was de-
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nounced by many and stoves did not come into common use in meeting houses of the Connecticut valley until a much later period. So cold were these houses in winter that the bread used in the celebration of the Lord's Supper was sometimes frozen. Judge Sewall in his Diary says, "Bread was frozen at Lord's Table". The tithing man was an important personage in the old meeting houses. He was given a convenient place in the congregation and the duty was assigned to him of keeping order and securing attention during the services. In his hand was a long stick, having at one end a rabbit's foot and at the other a rabbit's tail, or perhaps the feathery tail of a fox. The heavier end of the stick was laid upon the head of the nodding boy, while the face of the slumbering matron was gently brushed with the softer end of the wand.
In the "dignifying" or "seating" of the meeting house our forefathers departed very widely from the democratic teachings of the Bible. They were un- doubtedly familiar with the Scripture, "The rich and the poor meet together : the Lord is the maker of them all". But in the matter of assignment of seats in the house of worship there was much respect shown to families of wealth and influence, and to persons of eminence and advanced years. In Springfield, Deacon Samuel Chapin and Thomas Cooper, the contractor employed in building the first meeting house, were given places of honor in the congregation. In West Springfield as late as the forepart of the last century there was an unwritten law that no young woman should occupy a front seat in the gallery, where the unmarried women sat, unless attired in a silk gown. It probably should be stated as a witticism, rather than an actual fact, that in a certain town in southern New England the people so arranged the burial of their dead that on the morning of the resurrection, when
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COPPER WEATHERCOCK
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CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH SOUTHAMPTON. MASS. ERECTED 1788
the dead should rise and face eastward, the colored brethren would stand in the rear of the assembly.
A notable feature of not a few of the old meeting houses of New England is the copper weather-cock, perched upon the top of the spire, the purpose of which is to remind the church of Peter's warning and constitute a call to repentance. The most famous of these church roosters are three that were made by a noted London coppersmith and brought to this country in 1750. One of these was placed on the spire of the Old South Church of Boston, one on the church in Newburyport, and the third on the church in Springfield.
His investigation of the building of the old time meeting houses has reminded the writer of the firm adherence to conviction which characterized the fathers and has illustrated how adherence to conviction may sometimes lead to real obstinacy in small matters, a noble quality thus being transformed into narrowness of spirit. It sometimes happened that when action favorable to the building of a house of worship had been taken, a bitter contention over the location of the proposed building postponed the erection of the meeting house for several years. In several instances, it is recorded that no settlement of the difficulty could be effected until a committee had been called in from outside. In Southampton the building of the house of worship was delayed for seven years because of the inability of the people to agree upon a site. There was still longer delay in other cases. In some notable instances the General Court was appealed to for help.
Many of the old churches of the Connecticut valley are still in a good state of preservation. Almost every place of importance has one or more examples of this type of meeting house. These old houses of worship are familiar landmarks. They are regarded with love
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and admiration by the descendants of the men who built them and their preservation is a matter of earnest solicitude. This book is a sincere attempt to present in picture and story some of the best examples of the old meeting houses of the Connecticut valley. The writer is one of thousands of his generation who have been influenced in ideals and character by the stately houses of worship here illustrated. May these noble structures long remain a memorial of the Christian faith and sturdy character of their builders.
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FIRST CHURCH, NORTHAMPTON, MASS., 1812.
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The Old First Church Northampton, Massachusetts
B ARBER in his quaint book, "Historical Col- lections", published nearly three quarters of a century ago, wrote of Northampton, "The original planters were twenty one in number, and the legal grant was made to them in 1654 by 'John Pynchon, Elizur Holyoke, and Samuel Chapin, com- missioners for laying out Nonotuck, by the general court', and the settlement of the town commenced the same year".
The first settlers came to what Baedeker de- scribes as "the frontispiece of the book of beauty which Nature opens wide in the Connecticut Valley", at the time when Louis the Fourteenth was King of France and Oliver Cromwell Lord High Protector of Great Britain.
A perusal of the pages of the Hampshire County Gazetteer, 1654 to 1887, readily convinces one that few towns in the country exerted so large an influence upon colonial and national affairs as did Northampton in the early years of the country's history. Here resided Joseph Hawley, patriot and statesman; Seth Pomeroy, who was greeted with cheers by the troops at Bunker's Hill, when, after a hurried horseback ride from Northampton, he received a musket and ad- vanced to the "rail fence", where the fight was hottest; Caleb Strong,for eleven years Governor of the Common- wealth, one of the committee of four who drew up the original constitution of Massachusetts, United States Senator, and member of the Philadelphia committee that framed the constitution of the United States;
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Rev. Solomon Stoddard, pastor of the First Church from 1672 to 1729, fifty seven years, urbane, scholarly, eloquent, and influential among all the ministers and churches of New England; Jonathan Edwards, theo- logian, metaphysician, scholar and idealist, well de- scribed in the homely lines :
"Edwards, a wonder of logic rare; His preaching, earnest, faithful, sound, His books profound beyond compare, Have spread his fame the world around".
It was inevitable that a community abounding in such men should develop a vigorous, militant religious life and build meeting houses eminently worthy of presentation in picture and story. The First Church in Northampton was organized June 18, 1661. The church's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary will be celebrated the coming summer.
The center of political and religious life in North- ampton in former generations was "Meeting House Hill". On this spot stood the historic houses of worship described in this sketch, and here the people used to meet for discussion of town affairs and the worship of God. The locality also became a judicial center and here many a famous legal trial took place. It was here that Webster and Choate contended in masterly fashion over the provisions of the Oliver Smith will. Here in the old brick Court house, that was familiar to many of us during the latter part of the last century, the writer of this sketch witnessed the trial of the robbers of the Northampton National Bank. It was in this Court house that the late Daniel W. Bond displayed in the seventies and eighties those rare gifts as lawyer and jurist that resulted in his appointment to the Superior Court of Massachusetts, a position which he filled with dis-
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tinction for more than a score of years, or until his recent death. Four meeting houses besides the present noble structure, have stood upon this spot. Such famous preachers as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield have made the place historic by their solemn and moving discourses. As you stand in the neighborhood you can, in imagination, see passing be- fore you the forms of certain distinguished citizens of the early days. When we consider the character of the first settlers of the place and their previous history, we are not surprised to learn that among the first things which they thought of upon their arrival was the erection of a house for the public worship of God. It was styled by them "a house for the town", which reminds us that the first meeting houses of the region were used for secular as well as religious purposes. The first meeting house, according to the plan and specifications, was to be built of "sawen" timber, twenty six feet long, eighteen feet wide, and nine feet in the clear. That it was regarded as a building of special importance is indicated by the fact that it was to be built of sawn timber, which was prepared by hand, involving a large amount of hard labor. The houses of the settlers at the time were made of rough logs.
In the course of seven years the meeting house became too small for the increased congregations and, July 12, 1661, the town voted to erect a new meeting house. This second house stood, as did the first, on "Meeting House Hill" and was forty feet square. The old house was used for school purposes until 1663. The roof of the new church rose in pyramidal form to a point in the center and was surmounted by a "turret". No bell was used for many years, but the people were called to worship by the beating of a drum, or the blowing of a trumpet. Whether or not the trumpet
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was sounded at times from the turret does not appear.
This second meeting house, in size and ap- pearance, resembled the meeting houses used at the time in Hatfield, West Springfield, Wethersfield and some other valley towns. In June 1664 it was voted that the house be "decently seated". No services of dedication appear to have been held at the completion of the building and it is quite probable that a town meeting may have been held in it before it was used for a religious service.
In the seating of the people the principle follow- ed was the opposite of that involved in a Christian democracy. Families were assigned seats in the house of worship according to the rank and dignity accorded to them in the community.
This second meeting house had a door facing south and four windows in each side. The pulpit probably stood opposite the door. The house was not fully provided with pews for fifty years after its erection and galleries were not added for many years. After the Indian raid on Hatfield in 1667 the house was fortified by a line of palisades, which enclosed it on the four sides. In 1682 a move was made to purchase a bell. The bell was duly obtained and continued to do service for about three quarters of a century.
It was in this house that Edwards was preaching at the time the first great revival occurred under his labors, when some three hundred members were added to the church. Sunday, March 13, 1737, occurred in this building the accident to which reference is so frequently made in histories of the time. According to the tradition, Edwards had taken for his text,"Behold ye despisers, wonder and perish", and was well through his introductory remarks, when the gallery fell with a fearful crash, creating consternation in the congregation
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THIRD MEETING HOUSE-ERECTED 1237.
and giving terrifying emphasis to the preacher's solemn words. The framework of the gallery and its occupants fell upon the people seated beneath, but fortunately no one was seriously injured. One natu- rally infers that this accident hastened the erection of a new house of worship.
The old meeting house, after having stood for over seventy years, had become weak and was too small for the congregation. In 1735 the town voted by a large majority to erect a new house of worship. This structure was seventy feet long, forty six feet wide, and had a steeple at the end.
A committee was appointed to view several well known meeting houses and prepare a design for the new edifice. The new structure resembled meeting houses standing at the time in Boston, Springfield, Hartford, and Longmeadow. It stood in the present highway about in line with the center doorway of the present house of worship. The steeple was at the east end. The frame of the house was erected in the fall of 1736, but the steeple was not built until a little later. Seventy six men were employed in the work a part or the whole of five days. It is recorded that forty nine gallons of rum were required to get the timbers in place and that in the construction of the building, including the raising of the frame, sixty nine gallons of rum, several barrels of "cyder" and a number of barrels of beer were consumed. The spire was raised July 21, 1737. The old meeting house was pulled down May 5, 1738. A porch was placed on the west entrance of the new house in 1764 and one over the south entrance in 1768. There is allusion to a clock being in the steeple as early as 1740. The house was used for the first time in 1738, but was not wholly completed until the next year. It was in this church that Edwards was preaching when the GreatAwakening
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began. George Whitefield visited Northampton in 1740 and preached in this house. This building was the scene of the closing labors of Edwards in North- ampton and his dismissal in 1750. July 1, 1750, he preached his farewell discourse. Did the Lord manifest his disapproval of the dismissal of Edwards from North- ampton when in the summer of the following year the meeting house was struck by lightning ? The bolt struck the weather-cock and ran down the spire and tower to the ground. A new weather-cock was purchas- ed to take the place of the one destroyed by lightning. This house closely resembled the house of worship in Farmington, Connecticut. There was a side to the character of Jonathan Edwards that has been too little recognized by the world at large. One of his biogra- phers has well described him as America's greatest saint. The man who on his death bed could send to his wife the well known message, "Give my kindest love to my dear wife and tell her that the uncommon union which has long subsisted between us has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual, and therefore will continue forever", was surely a good husband, as well as a profound thinker.
This third house of worship, like its predecessor, stood for about three quarters of a century. The ac- companying illustration is said to be a good represent- ation of the structure and was made from a sketch drawn by William F. Pratt, architect, about forty years ago.
When the time came to erect the fourth meeting house, the noble edifice so familiar to the older people of to-day, the increased wealth and general resources of the period made it possible to build a house of worship of beautiful design and stately proportions. There was brought from New York the architect Captain Isaac Damon, then in his twenty eighth year.
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JJONATHAN EDWARDS
He had studied architecture under Ithiel Towne of New York. He was engaged to make the plans and direct the building of the new house. The church in Northampton was the first independent work in church building done by Captain Damon. He afterwards built a dozen more churches in the region. It is inter- esting to note that he made a specialty of bridge building and built nearly all of the bridges that were constructed in the early part of the nineteenth century over the Connecticut river and several of those that spanned the Penobscot, the Mohawk, the Hudson, and the Ohio rivers.
The church in Northampton built by Captain Damon was completed in 1812. It was at the time the most elaborate house of worship in western Massachusetts. It had a seating capacity of nearly two thousand people and was in excellent condition when it was unfortunately destroyed by fire in the afternoon of June 27, 1876. The accompanying illus- tration is from a sketch made by the architect, Mr. G. C. Gardner of Springfield.
Rev. Solomon Williams, whose ministry extended over a period of fifty six years, was pastor at the time the fourth meeting house was erected. The church has received into its membership in the course of its history about five thousand persons.
In response to a letter of inquiry directed to Mr. Christopher Clarke, of Northampton, now in his eighty fifth year, the writer of this sketch received the following interesting letter :
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