Vermont Churches

Stone Village Unitarian Church // 1845

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The Stone Village of Chester, Vermont, is said to be the largest collection of stone buildings in the state, and is anchored by its largest building, the Unitarian Church. Built in 1845, the Unitarian Universalist Church is one of a few dozen “snecked ashlar” buildings in the region, where rubblestone is laid up with mortar using small long stones called “snecks” to tie an outer and an inner wall together. The construction method is said to have been brought to the area by masons from Scotland and Ireland which is known there as ‘Celtic Bond’. Oral tradition state that Scottish masons from Canada introduced the technique to local masons while erecting a mill in nearby Cavendish in 1832. Local Chester resident, Dr. Ptolemy Edson became such a fan of the building that in 1834, he had his home, the first stone building in Chester, built in this method. Dr. Edson served on the building committee for the new village church, and likely pushed for a cohesive material and construction method for this church and other buildings soon after. The Stone Village Unitarian Church blends Greek Revival and Gothic Revival styles in a more vernacular way, typical in many rural Vermont communities. The building exhibits stained glass windows that were added sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century.

Chester Baptist Church // 1835

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The Baptists of Chester, Vermont, first built a wood-frame meetinghouse in 1788 for meetings and worship. The congregation here was established a year prior by Aaron Leland (1761-1832), a successful pastor and preacher, who settled in town with the task of building up a church there. Active in politics, Leland served in local offices including Town Clerk and Selectman, and was Windsor County Assistant Judge for eighteen years, he was later elected into the Vermont House of Representatives and served as Lt. Governor. After his death, the Federal style building was outgrown and sold by the 1830s. The original meetinghouse was moved to its current location across from the town’s Congregational Church and planning began for a new house of worship. The current Baptist Church, an impressive brick edifice in the Gothic Revival style, features a high slated spire that was likely added in the early 1870s, replacing a more traditional wooden crenelated tower. The 1870s spire was destroyed in 1953 and reproduced in 1999. The congregation here remains active and maintains the church well.

Chester Congregational Church // 1828

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A significant landmark in Chester, Vermont, the Congregational Church of Chester is a sophisticated interpretation of ecclesiastical Federal architecture. Built in 1828, the soaring, five-stage clock-and-bell tower with bellcast cap and weathervane rises above a pedimented three-bay entrance pavilion with semi-elliptical fanlight, a common motif in the style. It is believed that local carpenters, Comfort Carpenter Dresser and his son, Charles Dresser, built the church, likely from planbooks for specific details. The church originally served as the Union Meeting House for Congregational, Methodist, and Universalist parishioners until around 1848, when other churches set off to build their own structures, after this, the Congregationalists remained here. Today, due to years of dwindling membership and a small population in the surrounding area, the church is “replanting” to reactivate membership and realign with community needs. Hopefully this significant church will be preserved in the future, possibly through preservation grants!

Ripton Community Church // 1864

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Located a stone’s throw from the Ripton Community House in Ripton, Vermont, this church building helps contribute to the village center’s distinguished architectural presence for such a small community. The vernacular church building was constructed in 1864, the same time that the Congregational Church (now the Community House) was built. The Methodist Episcopal parishioners in town met in local homes and schools even before formally organizing their society in 1829, but it wasn’t until the onset of the Civil War that they started construction of a church building. During its full life as a methodist church, the building has also housed members of all faiths, and has been the place of worship for poets, authors and lecturers including Robert Frost, who was a summer resident. The building is well-preserved 160 years later!

Hancock Town House // c.1850

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Hancock, Vermont is located in Addison County, and sits on the east side of the Green Mountains. The land here was granted November 7, 1780 and chartered July 31, 1781 by Governor Chittenden, to Samuel Wilcox and 129 associates. Hancock grew as pioneers sought new land and opportunity after the Revolutionary War with some taking up farming and others engaging in the lumber trade. The population in the rural town reached its peak of 472 residents in 1830, a number it has never seen again – the current population is 359. As the town saw its largest growth in the early decades of the 19th century, the town officials decided to erect a joint Town House and Union Church to serve multiple uses. This structure, built in the Greek Revival style by around 1850, has two stories, with the ground floor historically housing town offices, and the second floor formerly housing a meeting space and church hall. The classically designed building has a box cornice, frieze, and molded corner pilasters. The double entrance doors have pilaster and entablature surround and the three-stage steeple has a clapboarded base with corner pilasters. The structure has survived generations and natural disasters and is a testament to this small, but proud town in rural Vermont.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Highgate // 1831

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St. John’s Episcopal Church stands in a grove of pine trees at the southeastern end of the Highgate Falls village green in Highgate, Vermont. The church is built in a transitional style which combines the pointed arches of Gothic architecture with a unique Gothic-Palladian window, but with a traditional plan and massing commonly found in Federal style churches in New England. The church was built between 1831-1833 by Joel Whitney of nearby Enosburg, and was consecrated on May 21, 1834, by Rev. John Henry Hopkins, the first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont. The congregation was a full parish until 1896 and maintenance has since struggled due to dwindling use. The wooden steeple was removed in the late 20th century, but the church stands as an important architectural landmark for the small town.

Highgate Springs Union Church // 1877

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Rural parts of Vermont always surprises me with amazing old buildings. This white wood-frame church is known as the Highgate Springs Union Church, an 1877 edifice which effortlessly blends Victorian Gothic and Stick style details. The building became the village’s union church, providing a worship space for members of all denominations who on their own, could not afford the cost of building and maintaining a building. The small congregations eventually moved out and the church appears to now be largely unused beyond small events or weddings/funerals. I am glad to see it is kept up well at least!

Highgate Union Methodist Church // 1868

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The Highgate Union Methodist Church in Highgate, Vermont was built in 1868 and is a high-style example of the Italianate architecture style in a relatively quiet part of the state. Built of brick, the church’s form is typical for small Vermont churches in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Here, however, the builders were conscious of Italianate fashion, and they applied its round and segmental arches, corbels, and brackets, painted in a lighter color, with consistency and to remarkable effect.

Derby Line Universalist Church // 1840

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Located adjacent to the former IOOF Hall of Derby Line, Vermont, the Derby Universalist Church stands as an well-preserved example of a New England village church in the Greek Revival style. The church was erected in 1840 as the Derby Line Free Church for local Episcopalians. In 1871, Universalist Unitarians were able to acquire the church and they have remained here ever since. The building has a boxed belfry with projecting pilastered facade and smooth siding, all hallmarks for Classically designed churches of the 1840s.

Whitingham Community Church // 1862

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This simple, Greek Revival, frame church has a prominent pediment, corner pilasters, and two part steeple. It is built into a steep bank at the side of the road as it curves and descends into Whitingham Village, making it one of the most visible buildings in town. This church was originally built in 1862 by the Methodists who moved their congregation from their old and deteriorated church in the original Whitingham settlement on Town Hill. By the 1870s, the Methodist congregation was in decline. The Baptist congregation started holding meeting at this church regularly in Sadawga Village in 1879 and then purchased it. They made repairs and alterations in 1881. In historic photographs c. 1890- 1920s, the church’s steeple had third and fourth sections consisting of a narrow octagonal section topped by a small bell shaped dome. By the 1940s photographs show these had been removed. The building now serves as the Whitingham Community Church. My friends who tag along with me on visits throughout New England always say that every town has at least one old, white church. They aren’t wrong!