Windham Presbyterian Church // 1834

The area now known as the town of Windham, New Hampshire, was colonized and settled by Scots-Irish immigrants in 1719. Many were from Londonderry in present-day North Ireland and they settled in Southern New Hampshire establishing a colony, which was closely tied to the Presbyterian Church, similar to in their homeland. An early church was built, but the congregation preferred a central location. When a new meetinghouse was built in 1798, the congregation utilized the building for its sermons. Being a town-owned building, the townhouse was used for town meetings and church services for any denomination wishing to worship there. There was dissolution of church from state in New Hampshire in 1819 with passage of legislation that ended support of churches through taxation. In 1833, the congregation sought their own house of worship and purchased a lot nearby and sold pews to area families to help fund the building. Completed in 1834, the Windham Presbyterian Church has long served as a landmark in town. At its peak in 1845, the church had 250 members out of the total population of the town at 818. In 1874, extensive repairs were made to the church, with the windows replaced and modified to accommodate the lowered gallery. The Greek Revival style building with its Italianate alterations (round arched windows and door and window hoods) has been lovingly preserved by its congregation for nearly 200 years.

Litchfield Community Presbyterian Church // 1844

Litchfield, New Hampshire remained a rural agricultural town on the eastern banks of the Merrimack River from its founding by white settlers until after WWII when it rapidly became a bedroom community for nearby NH cities and Boston. The area’s Presbyterian residents needed a place to worship, separate from the more common congregationalists, and they built this Gothic and Greek Revival style church near the geographic center of town, a stone’s throw from the Merrimack River. The building features lancet windows, tracery, and a two-tiered belfry with classical pilasters and Gothic finials at the tower.