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Appendix G. Meetinghouse Replications in New England, 1647–1828
- University of Massachusetts Press
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364 A P P E N D I X G Meetinghouse replications in New England, 1647–1828 Listed chronologically by town or parish vote to copy the dimensions, design features, or colors of their own or other meetinghouses. Date in parentheses indicates construction date of the prototype. Measure of miles indicates distance to prototype in another community (0 indicates that the prototype is within the community). 1647 Wethersfield, Conn. Seats to have wainscot “according to the seats [in the] Hartford Meeting House” (1638): 5 miles. Kelly, Early Connecticut Meetinghouses, 2:287. 1651 New London, Conn. Meetinghouse to be “about the same demention of Mr. Parke’s his barne”: 1 mile. Caulkins, History of New London, 9. 1654 Sudbury, Mass. “to appoint a man to remove the pulpit and the deacons’ seat out of the old meeting house into the new” (1642); “to build seats after the same fashion as in the old meeting house” (1642): 0. Hudson, History of Sudbury, 190. 1654 Watertown, Mass. “Cambridge meeting house shall be our pattern in all poynts” (1651): 4 miles. Watertown Records, 14 August 1654, 2:37. 1659 Rehoboth, Mass. Enlargement to be “shingled as well as Goodman Payne’s house”: 1 mile. Newman, Rehoboth in the Past, 17. 1672 Westfield, Mass. “for form like the Hatfield meeting house” (1668): 20 miles. History of the Connecticut Valley, 384. 1678 Norwalk, Conn. Roof “to be built after the manner of Faierfield meeting house” (1668): 9 miles. Hall, Ancient Historical Records, 71. 1679 Ipswich, Mass. (Second Parish or Essex). Turret to be built “after the fashion, and in proportions of the turret in Andover” (1661): 24 miles. Crowell, History of Essex, 84. 1680 Hingham, Mass. Three men “to view some other meeting houses in some other Townes . . . they may better inform themselves . . . how big a house may be suteable”: within 10 miles. Hingham Town Meeting Records, 2:93, courtesy of Robert B. St. George. 1681 Norwalk, Conn. To remove the “deske, and seates, and plankes of the ould meeting house [1659] to the new”: 0. Hall, Ancient Historical Records of Norwalk, 76. Meetinghouse Replications 365 1684 Windsor, Conn. “the form of the house according to the Meeting House at Spring- field” (1677): 19 miles. Kelly, Early Connecticut Meetinghouses, 2:305. 1686 Sudbury, Mass. “to erect a meeting-house, just like the new one in Dedham” (1673): 15 miles. Drake, History of Middlesex County, 2:468. 1688 Sudbury, Mass. To follow “in all respects for dimentions, strength, shape . . . and conveniences, as Dedham” (1673): 15 miles. Hudson, History of Sudbury, 265; Hudson, Annals, 47. 1689 Marlborough, Mass. Its old meetinghouse and pulpit “were improved in the meetinghouse , for carrying on the finishing of that” (1677): 0. Hudson, History of the Town of Marlborough, 88. 1692 Manchester, Mass. “roof . . . to be of the same form of Beverly [1682] or Wenham [1663]”: 7 miles (Beverly); 8 miles (Wenham). Early Records of the Town of Manchester, 44–45. 1693 Billerica, Mass. Reading to be “the pattern in most respects” (1689): 13 miles. Hazen, History of Billerica, 168. 1694 Deerfield, Mass. Meetinghouse to be “ye bigness of Hatfield” (1668): 11 miles. Sheldon , History of Deerfield, 1:202. 1695 Rowley, Mass. Committee to view Wenham (1663) and Beverly (1682) and report on size: 10 miles (Wenham); 13 miles (Beverly). Jewett and Jewett, Rowley, Massachusetts, 106. 1696 Deerfield, Mass. Seating to follow “ye present modell of Hatfield Meeting House Seats” (1668): 11 miles. Sheldon, History of Deerfield, 1:203. 1696 Haverhill, Mass. “to look and view some meeting houses for dimensions”; July report: “seats, pulpit, galleries, windows, doors, floors and stairs” to be like those in Beverly (1682): 22 miles; sides to be modeled after those of meetinghouse in Reading (1689): 22 miles. Hurd, History of Essex County, 1947–48. 1699 Boxford, Mass. Pulpit to be “as good as Topsfield’s” (1663): 3 miles; pews “to be set as in Andover” (1669): 11 miles. Perley, History of Boxford, 127. 1701 Newbury, Mass. Canopy of “old pulpit given by the town to the west part of Newbury for their pulpit” (1661): 9 miles. Coffin, A Sketch of the History of Newbury, 168. 1701 West Tisbury, Mass. “a new meeting-house after the manner and dementions of the meeting-house in Chilmark” (ca. 1690): 14 miles. Banks, History of Martha’s Vineyard, 2:46, 78. 1702 Topsfield, Mass. “ye Town did agree yt ye seats shall be plased after ye maner as...