Trinity Church (Holderness, New Hampshire) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Trinity Church
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 Location in New Hampshire
Location in the United States
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| Location | NH 175, Holderness, New Hampshire |
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| Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| Built | 1797 |
| NRHP reference No. | 84003203 |
| Added to NRHP | September 7, 1984 |
Trinity Church is a very old church located in Holderness, New Hampshire. It sits in a small cemetery right by New Hampshire Route 175. This church was built way back in 1797.
It's special because it's one of only two buildings from the 1700s in New Hampshire that was originally built as a church. The other one is the Union Church in Claremont. Trinity Church is also important because it's connected to Samuel Livermore. He was a famous leader and judge from New Hampshire who lived nearby. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Today, a group that takes care of the cemetery also looks after the church. It is still used sometimes for special church services.
What Trinity Church Looks Like
Trinity Church is in a quiet, natural area in the northwest part of Holderness. It's on the north side of New Hampshire Route 175, inside the Trinity Cemetery. The church is a simple, one-story building made of wood. It has a pointed roof, called a gabled roof. The outside walls are covered with overlapping wooden boards, known as clapboards.
At one end, there's a small entrance area that sticks out. It has a roof that slopes down on all sides, called a hip-roofed vestibule. At the other end, a small section for the preacher's stand, or pulpit, also sticks out. This section has a roof that slopes only one way, called a shed roof. Unlike many early churches in New Hampshire, Trinity Church was built like a traditional Anglican church. This means the entrance and pulpit are at the ends of the building. Many other early churches, called colonial meeting houses, had their entrance and pulpit on the longer sides.
The History of Trinity Church
Trinity Church was built in 1797. Most of the money for its construction came from Samuel Livermore. He was an important early settler in Holderness and a well-known leader in New Hampshire. Livermore lived close to the church and is buried in the nearby cemetery.
The church was built on land that Livermore owned. It stayed in his family until 1854. That year, Arthur Livermore Jr. sold the church and the cemetery next to it to the Trinity Church Yard Cemetery Association for just one dollar. This association has owned and taken care of the church ever since.
Over time, fewer people attended services at the church. Now, it is only used for services every once in a while. The nearby Holderness School held its very first sermon in Trinity Church on September 11, 1879. The church served as the school's main chapel until 1884. That's when a new church was built on the school's own campus. Even today, Holderness School still holds annual services at Trinity Church.
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