A colonial meeting house was a meeting house used by communities in colonial New England . Built using tax money, the colonial meeting house was the focal point of the community where the town's residents could discuss local issues, conduct religious worship, and engage in town business.
13-520: The First Parish Meetinghouse is a historic colonial meeting house at Meeting House Road and Old Pool Road in Biddeford, Maine . Built in 1758, it is the oldest public building in the city, and is one of the oldest buildings of its type in the state. It served as a combined church and town hall until about 1840. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It is now owned by
26-472: A "gallery") was usually built on the east, south, and west walls, and a high pulpit was located on the north wall. Following the separation of church and state , some towns architecturally separated the building's religious and governmental functions by constructing a floor at the balcony level, and using the first floor for town business, and the second floor for church. Most of these buildings that are still standing have been renovated several times to meet
39-511: A lawyer here and eventually became Governor of Massachusetts . Today, the meeting house is used by the Biddeford Historical Society to hold lectures and educational events about Biddeford's history such as reenactment performances. Colonial meeting house The origin of the " town meeting " form of government can be traced to meeting houses of the colonies. The meeting houses that survive today were generally built in
52-591: A local master builder, pursuant to a vote by the Biddeford town meeting. The congregation that met here is the "mother congregation" of both the congregation church in adjacent Saco and the present UCC congregation in Biddeford. The meeting house was an important site in the community during the American Revolutionary War , when local organizing activities were held here. It is also notable for its association with James Sullivan , who rose to prominence as
65-420: The Biddeford Historical Society. The First Parish Meetinghouse is located at the triangular intersection of Old Pool Road (Maine State Routes 9 and 208 ) and Meeting House Road. Set facing west, toward Meeting House Road, it is a single-story wood frame structure, with a front-facing gable roof, clapboard siding, and a granite foundation. Its front facade is symmetrically arranged, with a pair of entrances at
78-498: The building or as part of an entrance porch that was added to the building's end. Many of the typical white New England churches started out as a colonial meeting house. [REDACTED] Media related to Colonial meeting houses at Wikimedia Commons Steeple (architecture) In architecture , a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and
91-415: The center of the north wall. This window is one of the hallmarks of a colonial meeting house. As it took considerable effort to build a new post-and-beam end wall, the need for additional space was often met by cutting the building in half, separating the front and back halves, and filling in space between them. At this time it was also common to build steeples over the entrances, either incorporated into
104-700: The church building and capped with ever-more-elaborate roofs until the steeple resulted. Some wooden steeples are built with large wooden structural members arranged like tent poles and braced diagonally inside both with wood and steel. The steeple is then clad with wooden boards and finished with slate tiles nailed to the boards using copper over gaps on corners where the slate would not cover. Steeples can be vulnerable to earthquakes. A number of Romanian churches feature unusually slender steeples, and over half of these have been lost to earthquakes. Because of their height, steeples can also be vulnerable to lightning , which can start fires within steeples. An example of this
117-411: The ground level, and a single window in the gable at the gallery level. The doorways and all windows are topped by lancet-arched Gothic louvers. The main structure is built out of hand-hewn timbers. The building originally had a belfry; this was apparently removed during alterations in 1840, in which the pulpit was lowered and soundboard removed. The meetinghouse was built in 1758 by Nathaniel Perkins,
130-480: The needs of their owners and the style of the time. In the early 19th century, for example, there was a demand for churches that had one entrance on a short end of the building, a long aisle to a pulpit on the other short end, and slip pews instead of box pews. The colonial meeting house was the central focus of every New England town, and was usually the largest building in the town. They were simple buildings with no statues, decorations, stained glass , or crosses on
143-430: The second half of the 18th century. Most were almost square, with a steep pitched roof running east to west. There were usually three doors: The one in the center of the long south wall was called the "Door of Honor," and was used by the minister and his family, and honored out-of-town guests. The other doors were located in the middle of the east and west walls, and were used by women and men, respectively. A balcony (called
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#1732876786433156-538: The use of the term generally connotes a religious structure. They might be stand-alone structures, or incorporated into the entrance or center of the building. Towers are a common element of religious architecture worldwide and are generally viewed as attempts to reach skyward toward heavens and the divine. Towers were not a part of Christian churches until about AD 600, when bell towers first came into use. At first they were fairly modest and entirely separate structures from churches. Over time, they were incorporated into
169-411: The walls. Box pews were provided for families, and single men and women (and slaves) usually sat in the balconies. Large windows were located at both the ground floor and gallery levels. It was a status symbol to have much glass in the windows, as the glass was expensive and had to be imported from England. A pulpit window, between the levels of the ground floor and gallery windows, was usually located in
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