East Parish Meeting House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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East Parish Meeting House
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 Location in Massachusetts
Location in the United States
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| Location | 150 Middle Road, Haverhill, Massachusetts |
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| Built | 1838 |
| Architectural style | Colonial |
| NRHP reference No. | 11000149 |
| Added to NRHP | March 29, 2011 |
The East Parish Meeting House is a really old and important building in Haverhill, Massachusetts. People also call it the Fourth Parish Meeting House. It's been beautifully fixed up and is now used for lots of different events. You might see weddings, community dinners, or even open mic nights there!
This building is made of wood and has a cool style called Greek Revival. It was built in 1838. Before that, another meeting house stood in the same spot, built way back in 1744. People used the Meeting House for church services until 1906. That's when its church group joined with another nearby church.
The East Parish Meeting House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. This means it's recognized as a special historic place in the United States. Today, a local neighborhood group takes care of the building.
Contents
Discovering the East Parish Meeting House
The East Parish Meeting House is located on Middle Road in a quiet, rural part of eastern Haverhill. It's a wooden building with a front-facing roof and a strong granite base. The outside is covered with clapboard siding.
Inside, the main room, called the sanctuary, gets lots of sunlight from four huge windows. The building also has a tall, three-part steeple tower. This tower includes a steeple box, a belfry (where a bell would be), and a spire at the very top. These parts were all fixed up in 2014.
Inside the Historic Meeting House
The building shows a simple Greek Revival style. This means it has clean lines and classic details. The two main entrances are the fanciest parts. They have tall, flat columns called pilasters on each side. These columns support decorative tops with a projecting ledge.
Above each entrance, you'll find square windows. The inside of the building looks mostly the same as it did when it was built in 1838. There's a big sanctuary with rows of wooden benches, called pews. There's also a balcony, or gallery, that looks down over the main room.
At night, the building used to be lit by a gas chandelier from the 1800s and oil lamps on the walls. Now, electricity is also available. Next to the main building, you can still find traces of old carriage sheds. These sheds were used for horses and carriages but were destroyed by a fire in 1928.
A Look Back at the Meeting House's History
Haverhill's Fourth Parish was formed in 1743. They had their first meeting the next year. This group was the third church group to separate from Haverhill's very first church, which started in 1641.
The church group was always quite small. They didn't always have a full-time minister. For about 20 years, from the 1770s to the 1790s, they met only sometimes. Their first meeting house was taken down in 1838. That's when the building you see today was built in its place.
Changes Over Time
However, the church group continued to have limited money. Eventually, in 1906, they joined with another church nearby. Many of the old records from the East Parish were lost when that other church later burned down.
For many years, a group called the East Parish Sewing Society helped take care of the building. They held social events there. Today, a local non-profit group continues to maintain the building. It's still used for occasional non-religious events and is available for many other community activities.
See also
