It is not only the town of Williamsburg that is celebrating this year. The First Congregational Church of Williamsburg was founded on July 3, 1771—making the church officially 251 years old now in 2022. Town and church history are intertwined—to become an incorporated town in 1771, the townspeople needed a church and a school. So, like the town, the church, is commemorating its 250th anniversary in its 251st year—celebrating together after the pandemic delayed the festivities. The first settled minister, Amos Butler, arrived in 1773 but died of consumption in 1777. During the earliest years, services were held in the schoolhouse.
Though there was no settled minister, by 1779 the Church had a built a meeting house up on Meeting House Hill (now Village Hill) which served until 1836. The original meeting house didn’t have a gallery, pews, or a steeple. The congregation attended services on temporary seating. By October 1787, square high pews, a finished pulpit, a belfry, and a steeple were added, and the meeting house was officially dedicated.
The congregation grew, two long-term ministers, Joseph Strong and Henry Lord, served the church, and the congregation planned, constructed, and in 1836 moved down the hill into the center of town into a new meeting house with a soaring spire—the current building. In 1859, the sanctuary was raised to become the second floor; in 1897 Helen E. James supported a renovation that added stained glass windows, a chapel, and the church dome. As the congregation grew and evolved, a 1957 addition added Sunday School rooms and a commercial kitchen. Three organs have provided music in the sanctuary, the most recent a restored 1868 Johnson organ. Since its founding, 42 settled and interim ministers have served the congregation. And the beautiful historic 1836 Meeting House on North Main Street continues to be the home of the active Williamsburg Congregational Church community to this day. And the church bell strikes the hours daily. Congratulations Williamsburg Congregational Church @250 + 1. Daria D’Arienzo, Meekins Archivist and 2022 pictures photographer. #throwbackthursday; #tbt
Posted to Facebook 6/30/2022
