Merryall Union Evangelical Society Chapel
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The Merryall Union Evangelical Society Chapel (also known as Merryall Union Chapel) is a historic church building on Chapel Hill Road in the Lower Merryall section of
New Milford, Connecticut New Milford is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is in western Connecticut, north of Danbury, on the banks of the Housatonic River, and it shares its border with the northeastern shore of Candlewood Lake. It is t ...
. Built in 1890, it is the town's best example of
Carpenter Gothic Carpenter Gothic, also sometimes called Carpenter's Gothic or Rural Gothic, is a North American architectural style-designation for an application of Gothic Revival architectural detailing and picturesque massing applied to wooden structures ...
architecture. It is used in the summertime for services by visiting ministers of diverse denominations, and hosts weddings and other private functions. It 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 1986.


Description and history

The Merryall Chapel stands in a rural setting about north of the center of New Milford, on the west side of Chapel Hill Road. It is a single-story wood frame structure, with a steeply pitched gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. A square tower projects from the center of the street-facing front facade, rising to a pyramidal roof and fleur-du-lis finial. The entrance is in the base of the tower, topped by a lancet-arched panel. Lancet-arch windows line the side walls. The interior is decorated in a Victorian style, with spindle-backed chairs for seating of the congregation, and a raised platform at the rear serves as the altar, furnished with velvet armchairs and couch. The Merryall Union Evangelical Association was founded in 1884 as a vehicle to provide
Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...
education to children in the area. The present chapel was an outgrowth of that organization, which expanded to offer regular services to local residents, who would otherwise have to make the sometimes difficult journey to the town center for services. Services were typically provided by traveling ministers or ministers from other area churches, and were usually non-denominational. About 1900, care of the building fell to a local sewing club, and services were regularly offered during the summer, bringing in summer residents of the area. A new nonprofit was established in the 1970s to oversee maintenance of the building.


See also

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National Register of Historic Places listings in Litchfield County, Connecticut __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Litchfield County, Connecticut. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Litchfield Cou ...


References

{{National Register of Historic Places Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Gothic Revival architecture in Connecticut Churches completed in 1890 Churches in Litchfield County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Litchfield County, Connecticut New Milford, Connecticut 1890 establishments in Connecticut