Some Old Time Meeting Houses of the Connecticut Valley

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 Excerpt: ...bigness of Hatfield meeting house. The third meeting house was erected in 1750, on a site a little south of the former houses, and faced north and south. It was fifty six feet long, forty five feet wide, and had a belfry and tower with Gothic points. Stoves were placed in the vestibule of this house and pipes extended through the auditorium. This arrangement was a compromise as there was opposition to having stoves in the house of worship. The building was sold to the late Elijah Bardwell, who moved it on to his premises, where it still stands. It is the red building in the rear of Mr. F. H. BardwelFs residence, and is used for a barn. It was in this house that the representatives of fifty towns met in the August convention that preceded the Shays' Rebellion and drew up their list of twenty five grievances. The late Samuel D. Partridge, in his Reminiscences, states that this third meeting house had a tower built up from the ground, surmounted by a tall spire, on the top of which was a brass rooster. He also states that about 1850 the belfry and spire were taken down and the bell transferred to a tower erected on the other end of the building. At this time, according to Mr. Partridge, the old pews were taken out, slips put in instead, and a platform pulpit substituted for the high pulpit The story of the building of the present house of worship has never been told in print, so far as the writer of this sketch knows, and is now given because it affords a fine illustration of the spirit and manner in which many of the old time meeting houses were erected. The parish records of the time are complete and furnish the facts here stated. One Ephraim L. Hastings certified that he had posted a warrant on one of the south doors of the mee...