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A colonial meeting house was a
meeting house A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Ch ...
used by communities in
colonial New England The New England Colonies of British America included Connecticut Colony, the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, and the Province of New Hampshire, as well as a few smaller short-lived colo ...
. Built using tax money, the colonial meeting house was the focal point of the community where the town's residents could discuss local issues, conduct religious worship, and engage in town business.


History

The origin of the "
town meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...
" form of
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
can be traced to meeting houses of the colonies. The meeting houses that survive today were generally built in the second half of the 18th century. Most were almost square, with a steep pitched roof running east to west. There were usually three doors: The one in the center of the long south wall was called the "Door of Honor," and was used by the minister and his family, and honored out-of-town guests. The other doors were located in the middle of the east and west walls, and were used by women and men, respectively. A balcony (called a "gallery") was usually built on the east, south, and west walls, and a high
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...
was located on the north wall. Following the
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 ...
, some towns architecturally separated the building's religious and governmental functions by constructing a floor at the balcony level, and using the first floor for town business, and the second floor for church. Most of these buildings that are still standing have been renovated several times to meet the needs of their owners and the style of the time. In the early 19th century, for example, there was a demand for churches that had one entrance on a short end of the building, a long aisle to a pulpit on the other short end, and slip pews instead of box pews.


Description

The colonial meeting house was the central focus of every New England town, and was usually the largest building in the town. They were simple buildings with no statues, decorations,
stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
, or
cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a s ...
es on the walls. Box pews were provided for families, and single men and women (and slaves) usually sat in the balconies. Large windows were located at both the ground floor and gallery levels. It was a status symbol to have much glass in the windows, as the glass was expensive and had to be imported from England. A pulpit window, between the levels of the ground floor and gallery windows, was usually located in the center of the north wall. This window is one of the hallmarks of a colonial meeting house. As it took considerable effort to build a new
post-and-beam Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
end wall, the need for additional space was often met by cutting the building in half, separating the front and back halves, and filling in space between them. At this time it was also common to build steeples over the entrances, either incorporated into the building or as part of an entrance porch that was added to the building's end. Many of the typical white New England churches started out as a colonial meeting house.


See also

* Moot hall


Gallery

Image:West_Barnstable_MA_meeting_house.jpg, The colonial meeting house in
West Barnstable, Massachusetts West Barnstable is a seaside village in the northwest part of the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts. Once devoted to agricultural pursuits, West Barnstable now is largely residential and historic. Originally founded in 1639 as part of its neighbori ...
Image:Cohasset_meeting_house.jpg, Colonial meeting house in
Cohasset, Massachusetts Cohasset is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 8,381. History Cohasset was inhabited for thousands of years by Native Americans prior to European colonization, from whom English ...
Image:Brooklin CT pulpit window.jpg, Pulpit window in the colonial meeting house in
Brooklyn, Connecticut Brooklyn is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,450 at the 2020 census. The town center village is listed by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place. The district of East Brooklyn is liste ...
Image:Interior Danville meeting house.jpg, Interior of the colonial meeting house in
Danville, New Hampshire Danville is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,408 at the 2020 census. Danville is part of the Timberlane Regional School District, with students attending Danville Elementary School, Timberlane Regio ...


References

* Benes, Peter, ed.: ''New England Meeting House and Church: 1630-1850''. The
Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife is an annual series of conferences and publications that explores everyday life, culture, work, folklore, material culture and traditions in New England's past. History First hosted by the Dublin Scho ...
, Annual Proceedings 1979. Published by Boston University. No ISBN, but can be obtained from Boston University Scholarly Publications, 25 Buick Street, Boston, MA 02215. * Benes, Peter, and Zimmerman, Philip D.: ''New England Meeting House and Church: 1630 - 1850''. Published by Boston University and The Currier Gallery of Art for The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife, 1979. An exhibition catalog for a Loan Exhibition held at the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH. . * Bliss, William Root: ''Side Glimpses from the Colonial Meeting House''. Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, New York, 1894. No ISBN, but may be available via web-based used book sellers. * Buggeln, Gretchen: ''Temples of Grace - The Material Transformation of Connecticut Churches, 1790 - 1840''. University Press of New England, Hanover, 2003. . * Clark, Charles E.: ''The Meeting House Tragedy''. University Press of New England, Hanover and London, 1998. . * Earle, Alice Morse: ''The Sabbath in Puritan New England''. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1891. No ISBN, but may be available via web-based used book sellers. * Mallary, Peter T., and Imrie, Tim: ''New England Churches and Meetinghouses: 1680-1830''. Chartwell Books, Secaucus, NJ, 1985. . * Sinnott, Edmund W.: ''Meetinghouse and Church in Early New England''. Bonanza Books, New York, 1963. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 63-16197. * Speare, Eva A.: ''Colonial Meeting-Houses of New Hampshire''. Self-published, Reginald M. Colby, Agent, Littleton, NH, 1938, revised 1955. No ISBN (was apparently self-published), but may be available via web-based used book sellers. * Wight, Charles Albert, B.A.: ''Some Old Time Meeting Houses of the Connecticut Valley''. The Rich Print, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, 1911. No ISBN (was apparently self-published), but may be available via web-based used book sellers. * Winslow, Ola Elizabeth: ''Meetinghouse Hill''. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1972. .


External links

{{commonscat-inline, Colonial meeting houses History of New England Types of church buildings Timber-framed churches