The First Church of Christ, Wethersfield, is an

American Colonial Era The colonial history of the United States covers the period of European colonization of North America from the late 15th century until the unifying of the Thirteen Colonies, Thirteen British Colonies and creation of the United States in 17 ...

church located in the Old Wethersfield Historic District of

Wethersfield, Connecticut Wethersfield ( ) is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located immediately south of Hartford along the Connecticut River. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region. The population was 27,298 at the time ...

. The congregation was founded in 1635, and the cemetery dates from the 1600s, but the current Georgian-style, brick meetinghouse, with its distinctive white steeple, was built in 1761. The interior of the current meetinghouse was built as a ', altered considerably in 1838 and 1882, but returned to the original layout in 1971–1973.

Background

According to a plaque at the tower entrance door,

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

attended church here on May 20, 1781, during a conference with Count de Rochambeau at the nearby Joseph Webb House to plan the conclusion of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. In 1774,

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

visited

Silas Deane Silas Deane (September 23, 1789) was an American merchant, politician, and diplomat, and a supporter of American independence. Deane served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and then became t ...

, Wethersfield merchant and envoy to France, and subsequently wrote in his diary: “We went up the steeple of Wethersfield meeting-house, from whence is the most grand and beautiful prospect in the world, at least that I ever saw.” The church, equipped with an Austin organ, hosted the first eighteen years of the . This competition for young organists has been held annually since 1998 in the

Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

area, and was co-founded by First Church music minister David Spicer. The congregation was affiliated with the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

from 1961 through 2004 when the congregation overwhelmingly voted to break away citing theological and social differences, including gay marriage.

Gallery

File:Wethersfield, First Church of Christ.jpg , ' floorplan (1895)

References

External links

* 1630s establishments in Connecticut Churches completed in 1761 Churches in Hartford County, Connecticut United Church of Christ churches in Connecticut Wethersfield, Connecticut {{Connecticut-NRHP-stub