UU Church

Universalist Church of Sandy Bay // 1829

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This Unitarian Universalist Church in Rockport was built in 1829 after 23 founders came together to sign a compact to build a new church. The Gothic Revival church building was given its 93-foot steeple in 1867 and it has stood tall since! The church stands just off Main Street and has long been active in local and national events since its founding. The church’s website states, “In 1843, we prepared resolutions against slavery, intemperance, and war. In 1861, a person threw a smoking bomb through a window into our sanctuary, during an anti-slavery lecture by a noted abolitionist. The crowd evacuated, but later returned to hear the rest of the talk. In 1884, our Society hired its first female pastor, Lorenza Haynes, past Chaplain to The Maine Senate and House.“ Today, the church collaborates with the Cape Ann Slavery and Abolition Trust, which investigates and shares the role the slave trade played in Cape Ann’s families, industries, and economies and in the lives of enslaved people.

North Adams Universalist Church // 1893

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Tucked away off Main Street in North Adams you’ll find this charming little church. The Universalists were organized in North Adams in 1842, restoring an existing church near the Hoosic River. The congregation chose a site for a new church in 1852, and erected a white wooden chapel. It is unclear if the church was outgrown or a fire destroyed it, but the Unitarian society voted to build this church for a cost of approximately $25,000 in 1892. Architect Henry Neill Wilson of Pittsfield drew the plans, and the firm of Porter and Harnam of North Adams constructed the church. Due to the declining population in town in the mid-20th century, the church struggled and was sold to a private owner. The building began to decay by the 1970s and was later sold in 1996 to Barbara and Eric Rudd to house artist Eric Rudd’s installation entitled “A Chapel for Humanity”. The building is currently used as the Berkshire Art Museum Annex.