Way Back When
by Margaret Morabito, Church Historian
The Second Meeting House: Part 2 Continued
United Church of Christ
First Congregational Church and Society, United Church of Christ, 6 Payson Hill Rd., Rindge, NH 03461 Mailing address: PO Box 451, Rindge, NH 03461 Phone: 603-899-5722
Copyright 2015 All rights reserved.
6 PAYSON HILL ROAD
RINDGE, NH 03461
603-899-5722
First Congregational Church
Another committee was chosen to clear the site area of spectators who might be harmed during the raising and to distribute the refreshments. Town records show that the raising committee submitted their expense report on August 29, 1796. It is presumed then that the actual raising occurred sometime in the summer of 1796. The raising of the frame would have taken at least a couple of days, but we do not have exact dates for this.
We do know that the meeting house was completed in time for its official dedication on January 11, 1797. The winter dedication was an event to warm the hearts of all those in attendance. Dr. Payson gave a sermon. A special hymn was written, and it was sung at the original ceremony, as well as at the centennial and bicentennial anniversaries. The hymn’s message reveals a spiritual richness from that period in our Church’s history. (Link to hymn)
This ends our look at the raising and dedication of the Second Meeting House. As they sang in 1797, “Praise to the eternal source of love.”
(Sources consulted are Stearn’s History of Rindge, New Hampshire 1736-1874; Colonial Meeting-Houses of New Hampshire by Eva Speare; Timber Framing Journal of the Timber Framers Guild, Number 71, March 2004; http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ridge+pole; http://countrylife.lehmans.com/2009/10/29/barn-raising/; http://connect.westheights.org/2012/06/22/wanted-volunteers-for-unique-opportunity-a-barn-raising/; and the Rindge Historical Society.)