Rocky Hill Meeting House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Rocky Hill Meetinghouse and Parsonage
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Rocky Hill Meeting House, Amesbury, Massachusetts.
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| Location | Old Portsmouth Rd. Amesbury, Massachusetts |
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| Built | c. 1785 |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| NRHP reference No. | 72000115 |
| Added to NRHP | April 11, 1972 |
The Rocky Hill Meeting House is a very old and special building in Amesbury, Massachusetts. It's a type of building called a meeting house from the early days of New England. Built around 1785, it stopped being used as a church after 1840.
What makes it so special? It has the best-preserved inside of an 18th-century meeting house in all of New England! This means it looks almost exactly as it did when it was first built. The Rocky Hill Meeting House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Today, it's a museum run by Historic New England, and you can visit it on certain days.
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What Does the Rocky Hill Meeting House Look Like?
The Rocky Hill Meeting House is located just east of downtown Amesbury. You can find it on Old Portsmouth Road, which is a small road near Interstate 495.
It's a large, almost square building made of wood. It has a pointed roof and its outside walls are covered with wooden boards. Each side of the building has five sections, and there are doors on three sides. The main entrance is on the south side, where there's a part that sticks out with stairs inside. The building has no modern things like electricity, running water, or heating.
A Glimpse into the Past: History of the Meeting House
This meeting house was built around 1785. It was meant to serve the people of the west parish of Salisbury. It replaced an older meeting house from about 1715.
A very important event happened here in 1789. George Washington, who was the first President of the United States, actually visited this meeting house! He met with local townspeople during his trip north. By the 1840s, regular church services no longer took place here. Later, in 1941, the organization Historic New England took over the meeting house to protect it.
Why is the Interior So Unique?
The inside of the Rocky Hill Meeting House has hardly changed since it was built. It's like stepping back in time! You can still see the original tall pulpit, which is where the minister would stand. Above it is a special five-sided "sounding board" that helped the minister's voice carry.
There's also the deacon's desk and columns that look like marble. The pews, which are like long benches, are still there. Some even have old drawings or names carved into them! You can also see the foot warmers people used to keep warm during long services. The stairs leading up to the gallery (a balcony area) are unfinished, just as they were. The gallery itself slopes down on three sides.
The pews have never been painted, and the original paint on the pulpit and columns is still there. Even the old metal parts, like hinges and latches, are original. This makes the Rocky Hill Meeting House a truly special place to learn about history.
See also
- List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, Massachusetts
