Stark Union Church
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Stark Union Church
OR:
Stark Union Church on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The Stark Union Church (also known as the Stark Church) is a historic church on NH 110 in
Stark, New Hampshire Stark is a town in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 478 at the 2020 census, down from 556 at the 2010 census. It has a famous covered bridge. The town includes the villages of Percy and Crystal as well as the village ...
. Built in 1853 to serve as non-denominational worship space, it is a well-preserved example of mid-19th century vernacular church architecture. The building 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 1983. It is still the only church in the rural community.


Description and history

The Stark Union Church is one of the prominent and visible features of the small village of Stark, set on the west side of New Hampshire Route 110 at its junction with Northside Road, which crosses the
Upper Ammonoosuc River The Upper Ammonoosuc River is a tributary of the Connecticut River that flows through Coös County in the northern part of the northeastern U.S. state of New Hampshire. Despite its name, the river is not an upstream portion of the Ammonoosuc Riv ...
on the Stark Covered Bridge just to the west. The church is a modest single-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboarded exterior. It is oriented facing south toward Northside Street, with its long side paralleling NH 110. The front facade is symmetrical, with a pair of entrances flanking a single sash window. The doors and window are each topped by a slightly peaked lintel. Windows on the sides are also sash, with similar decoration. A two-stage tower rises from the roof ridge, its second stage an open belfry with round-arch openings. Each stage has pinnacles at the corners, and the top is crested by low crenellations. The interior is relatively plain, with plaster walls and bench pews. The church was built in 1853, at a time when the small community's numerous congregations could not individually afford to build churches. The building continues to be owned by the Pew Owner's Association whose subscription fees funded its construction. It is a well-preserved example of a vernacular
Greek Revival 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 ...
New England church.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Coos County, New Hampshire National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...


References

{{NRHP in Coos County, New Hampshire Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Carpenter Gothic church buildings in New Hampshire Churches completed in 1853 19th-century churches in the United States Churches in Coös County, New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Coös County, New Hampshire