Part ll: People Make a Community

Earliest settlement (*of Township No. 1) came in April of 1739 in the southern portion, as the northern valley was a periodically flooded marsh. The offer of a mill lot, contingent on building a sawmill, was made to one Samuel Bond, who refused, writing that he could not meet the conditions imposed; it was then offered to Thomas Slaton, who accepted but within days gave it up. The proprietors, anxious that this important industry be established, decided to tax themselves £1.10s to pay for a sawmill. (*The proprietors relocated the offered mill lot from Loom Brook to a much better mill site along the outlet of Twelve Mile Pond). The deal was then offered to John Brewer, who accepted, and who followed Isaac Garfield, Slaton and John Chadwick to Township Number One from his home in Hopkinton, returning the next year with a pair of stones for a grist mill as well (Myers, p. 5).

Within six months wives and families followed, and with (in all probability) some slaves they began the lengthy process of turning wilderness into farmsteads, meeting house, and mills. Brewer constructed his mills near the outlet of Twelve Mile Pond (now Lake Garfield). The first road (*Hupi Rd-Beartown Mtn Rd-Brett Rd), opened through the Township in 1737, was followed by Royal Hemlock Road to Hop Brook in the northern section in 1743, and a church building was started. The Brewer house, the Chadwick house (*this house is no longer standing), and the Bidwell house all still stand, and portions of the first Road and Royal Hemlock Road still exist. The meeting house, the first of three that would be built, does not. (*The site of the first Meeting House is well marked on the Bidwell House property.)

The settlers voted to build it in 1740, and assessed each property owner ten shillings to buy “boards to be sawed and to be seasoning three months.” John Brewer and Thomas Slaton were delegated to get boards for the outside “and sufficient good white pine for the inside work.” Construction was delayed due to the threat of war with France, but each proprietor was assessed ten more shillings for the “obtaining of some suitable person” to serve as minister. In 1742, they voted to build again, thirty-five by forty feet with suitable height for a one tier gallery. In 1745, with another threat of war in the air, they sealed up the unfinished building, ordered “waterboring the mortises and underpining [sic], sticking the boards, securing the window frames and all stuff provided for use,” and instead fortified the Brewer, Slaton, and Watkins houses.

The following year they shingled the roof; itinerant preachers held occasional services. By 1750, the building was complete enough to pay serious attention to a formal covenant and ordination of a minister (Myers, p. 6).

A Centerpiece. 

Standing on a hill, and becoming visible from a distance as land was cleared to fields, the meeting house dominated community life as the place for town meetings, worship, and emergencies. It could be used to store munitions and be fortified against attack. Notices were posted on its doors, and proclamations read on its front steps.  Political discussion and community decisions took place in the meeting house.

Surviving churches of the period typically had a door centered in the longer side of the single-story building, and windows with closable shutters on all sides. Facing the door was a pulpit, raised for visual prominence and better acoustics. (*See sidebar for images of similar buildings.) The building frame was most likely local oak, with an interior of plaster and pine. Pews might have been enclosed by low doors to preserve heat and cut down drafts. There was surely no heat other than foot warmers, so ministers and parishioners alike wore gloves and outer coats to services most of the year. It was altogether a simple building by practical necessity and by theology (the Calvinist reform of the perceived error of ostentation).

— Kathy Page Wasiuk 

(originally printed in the Monterey News, Oct. 1996, pp-6-8)

References:  †Marked references are in the collection of the Monterey Library, and may be seen there.

†A Hinterland Settlement, by Eloise Myers

* 2025 footnotes added by Rob Hoogs, Monterey Historical Society

These articles were originally written by Kathy Page Wasiuk and Delight Dodyk and printed in the Monterey News from October 1996 through May 1997 as part of the MUCC congregation’s outreach for their capital campaign for restoration and preservation work. The articles are reprinted with the permission of the authors. 

What did the first meeting house look like?

Figure 1 1773 Sandown NH Meeting House (1908 post card)

Township No. 1’s first meeting house (1750-1794) was probably similar to these examples.  They are about the same size, but ours would have been unpainted and rustic.

Typically, the front door was reserved for the minister and special guests.  The congregation entered through the doors on the two ends. 

The arched window on the rear, halfway between the upper and lower floors, was the “Pulpit Window” below which the minister preached, usually on a raised platform. 

—Rob Hoogs, Monterey Historical Society

Figure 2 1797 Rockingham VT Meeting House (photo by Rob Hoogs)