Danville Meetinghouse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Danville Meetinghouse
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 Location in New Hampshire
Location in the United States
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| Location | N. Main St., Danville, New Hampshire |
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| Area | 0.3 acres (0.12 ha) |
| Built | 1759 |
| NRHP reference No. | 82001876 |
| Added to NRHP | April 19, 1982 |
The Danville Meetinghouse (also known as The Hawke Meetinghouse) is a very old and important building in Danville, New Hampshire. It's located on North Main Street. This special building started being built in 1755 and was finished in 1760. Back then, Danville was called Hawke, and it was just becoming its own town, separate from Kingston.
This meetinghouse is super unique because it's the oldest one in New Hampshire that still looks mostly like it did when it was first built. Its inside is especially well-preserved! Today, a local group takes care of the building. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 because of its historical value.
Contents
What is the Danville Meetinghouse?
The Danville Meetinghouse sits in a quiet, natural area in northern Danville. It's a two-and-a-half-story building made of wood. It has a sloped roof and its outside walls are covered with overlapping wooden boards called clapboards.
Looking Inside the Meetinghouse
You can enter the building from the east, west, or south sides. The main door is on the south side. The north wall has five window openings. One special window, called a pulpit window, is in the middle of the north wall, halfway between the two floors.
Inside, you'll find the original box pews. These are like small, enclosed seating areas with high backs. There's also a raised pulpit and a reading desk in the center of the north wall. These are where speakers would stand. On the upper level, called the gallery, there are more seats called slip pews. There's also a special area for the choir on the south wall, facing the pulpit.
A Building with a Long History
Local people built the meetinghouse around 1759-1760. At that time, this area was known as the west part of Kingston. Later, it became its own town, first named Hawke, and then Danville.
Around 1800, some of the windows were made a little bigger. The building also got some new decorations on the outside in a style called Federal style. People used the meetinghouse for church services for many years. But after a new church was built in 1832, fewer religious services were held here.
Town Meetings and Preservation
The meetinghouse was also used for town meetings regularly until 1887. That's when the current town hall was finished. Interestingly, the box pews inside were taken out in the 1860s and put into storage. But don't worry, they were put back in their original spots in 1936!
This building is very important for understanding old architecture in the region. Because it's so old and so well-preserved, it gives us a great look at what other meetinghouses from that time might have looked like, even if those buildings don't exist anymore.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Rockingham County, New Hampshire
- New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 169: Hawke Meeting House
