Church of Christ, Swansea (also known as First Christian Congregational Church and Swansea White Church) is a historic church along
United States Route 6
U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to P ...
in
Swansea, Massachusetts
Swansea is a town in Bristol County in southeastern Massachusetts.
It is located at the mouth of the Taunton River, just west of Fall River, south of Boston, and southeast of Providence, Rhode Island. The population was 17,144 at the 2020 cens ...
. The current Greek Revival church building was built in 1833 for a congregation with a recorded history of meetings dating to 1680. The church was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1990.
The congregation is affiliated with the
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...
; its current pastor is Rev. Holly Norwick.
Architecture and history
The Church of Christ, Swansea, is located at the northeast corner of GAR Highway and Maple Avenue in central Swansea. It is a -story wood-frame structure, oriented to face south, with a gable roof and a three-stage tower. The main facade is divided into five bays by six pilasters, with a double-door entrance at the center under a rounded arch. Flanking windows on the first floor are topped by lancet-arch fans, a detail repeated at the center of the fully pedimented gable end above, and above the windows on the side walls. The tower's first stage is plain, with a railing and corner pinnacles surrounding the smaller belfry stage above. The railing and pinnacles are repeated at the top of the belfry, which is topped by an octagonal cupola with louvered lancet openings. The original main block is extended to the rear, with a modern addition extending eastward from those additions.
[
The church was built in 1830–33 for a congregation that is one of the oldest in New England, and is distinctive for its lack of municipal support in the colonial years when there was no ]separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
. The congregation's earliest documented services were held in 1680, although it was not formally organized until 1693; its first meetinghouse was built in 1720. The current church is its second building, and was constructed after the roof was blown off the first one.
See also
*
References
External links
Official church website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church Of Christ, Swansea
Churches completed in 1833
19th-century Protestant churches
United Church of Christ churches in Massachusetts
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
Churches in Bristol County, Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Swansea, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts
1833 establishments in Massachusetts