The Congregational Church of Edgecomb, now the Edgecomb Community Church, is a historic church at 15 Cross Point Road in
North Edgecomb, Maine
Edgecomb is a New England town, town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,188 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It includes the villages of East Edgecomb, North Edgecomb, and Pools Landing. The town was named ...
. Built in 1877, it is the rural community's finest example of 19th-century religious architecture, and 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 1987.
The congregation, established about 1783, 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 ...
; the pastor is the Rev. Katherine E. Pinkham.
Description and history
The Congregational Church of Edgecomb is located in northern Edgecomb, on the west side of Cross Point Road, a short way south of its junction with Eddy Road. It is a single-story wood frame structure, with a gabled roof, clapboarded exterior, and a brick foundation. A two-stage tower projects from the east-facing front. It has a tall first stage, which has the main entrance at the base, and a Palladian-style window with rounded-arch heads above, and molded corner boards rising to a bracketed cornice. The second stage is an open belfry, with rounded-arch openings, and slatted corner posts. The tower is topped by an octagonal steeple. The tower is flanked by narrow round-arch windows, and there are wider round-arch windows on the sides of the building. The interior retains original woodwork and other features, including oil-lamp chandeliers that have been converted to electric lighting.
The earliest recorded information about the Edgecomb church's congregation dates to 1783. It is documented as meeting in the community's town hall until about the time of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, and then in a school, until this building was completed in 1881. The use of rounded arch windows is a departure from similar surviving rural churches of the period in Maine.
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See also
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References
External links
Edgecomb Community Church web site
{{National Register of Historic Places
Churches in Lincoln County, Maine
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Churches completed in 1877
19th-century churches in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Lincoln County, Maine
Congregational churches in Maine
1877 establishments in Maine