Post Mills Church
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The Post Mills Church is a historic church at 449
Vermont Route 244 Vermont Route 244 (VT 244) is a state highway located within Orange County, Vermont, United States. The route runs from VT 113 in Thetford to U.S. Route 5 (US 5) in Fairlee. The highway is long and provides access to the Post ...
in the
Post Mills Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries ** An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service ** Iraqi Post, I ...
village of
Thetford, Vermont Thetford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States in the Connecticut River Valley. The population was 2,775 at the 2020 census. Villages within the town include East Thetford, North Thetford, Thetford Hill, Thetford Center, Rices Mill ...
. Built in 1818 and remodeled in 1855, it is an excellent example of
Greek Revival architecture The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...
, with extremely rare late 19th century stencilwork on its interior walls and ceiling. 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 1992. 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 ...
.


Description and history

The Post Mills Church stands in the eastern portion of the dispersed rural village of Post Mills in northern Thetford, on the north side of Vermont 244 near its junction with Robinson Hill Road. It is a single-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof, clapboarded exterior, and concrete block foundation. The main facade faces south, and has a central projecting section with fully pedimented gable. A square tower rises, straddling the main roof and front section, with a clock in the first stage, which is topped by a low balustrade. Above that is an open octagonal belfry with arched openings, and an octagonal third stage topped by a bellcast roof and weathervane. The front facade has corner pilasters at the corners of both the main building and projection, and an entablature extends across the front and the sides. The portion of the entablature on the projecting section has a distinctive frieze, created in 1855 out of the doors of the building's original
box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in chu ...
s. The interior originally with a three-sided gallery, now only has a gallery at the rear, with bench pews facing the pulpit at the rear. with The church was built in 1818, and was originally more
Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
in its appearance, based in part on plans published by
Asher Benjamin Asher Benjamin (June 15, 1773July 26, 1845) was an American architect and author whose work transitioned between Federal architecture and the later Greek Revival architecture. His seven handbooks on design deeply influenced the look of cities a ...
. It underwent a major renovation in 1855, when the pews were replaced, a platform built for the pulpit, and the side galleries were removed. In 1887, when the plaster of the walls and ceilings was renewed, Hiram Powell decorated them with stencilwork. This type of decoration is extremely rare and fragile, because of its use of water-based distemper paint. Elements of this work were carefully restored in the 20th century. The church was built for use by two congregations, one Baptist and the other Congregationalist. Local residents had for some years complained about the long trip to the Thetford Center Church (, essentially an all-day outing at the time), and the definitive
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 ...
in the 1810s freed them from tax obligations to that church.


See also

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


References


External links


Post Mills Congregational Church web site
{{NRHP in Orange County, Vermont Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Vermont Churches completed in 1818 19th-century churches in the United States Buildings and structures in Thetford, Vermont Churches in Orange County, Vermont National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, Vermont