State Archaeologist to Investigate Mystery at Monroe Congregational

Renown archaeologist, Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni, will be searching the grounds of Monroe Congregational Church on August 25 to solve a mystery. He will investigate the location of the foundation of the original meeting house of the church. Dr. Bellantoni is the State Archaeologist of Connecticut and is internationally known. He was featured on The History Channel’s Mysteryquest, in which he traveled to Russia and investigated remains previously believed to be that of Adolf Hitler.

The Monroe Congregational Church, located at 34 Church Street, is celebrating its 250th anniversary year. Arlene Redmond is Church Historian for the congregation, which was founded in 1764. “In January 1768, the Society agreed to build a house of public worship,” Redmond explained. “It is believed that this church opened for worship in June 1769. This building served us until 1847 when it was deemed unfit and the present meeting house was built.”

New research is raising questions about where that first meeting house stood. While church members poured over historic documents in preparation for the celebration year, Kevin Daly, a town resident with an interest in history, was doing his own search.

“For me, this story started back in 2012 while researching our town history on the Connecticut State Library’s website,” Daly said. “There I discovered two 1834 hand-drawn sketches of the Monroe Center Green by historic artist John Warner Barber. One of these two sketches […] I’d never seen before and neither had the president of the Monroe Historical Society.”

“For as long as I can remember, our town history had stated that the first formal meeting house stood on the Monroe green, south of Church Street,” Daly said. “But as I closely studied and compared the details of these two sketches, which capture two opposing diagonal views of the green, I began to think that the meeting house may have actually stood north of Church Street between the parsonage and the current Congregational Church.”

Now Dr. Bellantoni, who has been excavating in Connecticut for over 30 years, will work to solve the mystery. He and his technicians will study the grounds and scan the church property with ground penetrating radar. This project will be one of Dr. Bellantoni’s last as State Archaeologist as he prepares to retire on September 1. He will be traversing the church property and Monroe Green area, scanning the ground between the Church building and the parsonage in search for the old Meeting House foundation. He will also scan the northern part of the Green in front of the Church.

Rev. Jennifer Gingras is the church’s current pastor. “For the past eight years of team-teaching confirmation, I have walked students to the place on the green where we believed the first meetinghouse stood,” Gingras said. “And we have told them the story of why and how it came to be built. It would be thrilling to see the evidence for ourselves. The more detail we can pass on to our young people about our faith heritage, the more the story will live on in their hearts.”

Dr. Bellantoni worked with the Monroe Historical Society in recent years to verify a native American artifact in upper Stepney. He was also instrumental in the creation of Monroe’s Webb Mountain Discovery Zone, aiding in the development of 28 learning stations, including many dedicated to Native American and colonial history.

Dr. Bellantoni’s visit is a highlight in a year of events to celebrate Monroe Congregational Church’s 250th anniversary. 250th Anniversary Event Calendar:

• November 15, 2014: 250th Celebration Luncheon & Concert featuring Atwater-Donnelly – playing Traditional American Folk Music
• December 7, 2014: The pastoral biographies will conclude with MCC’s 50th and current Senior Pastor, Rev. Jennifer M. Gingras.
• December 14, 2014: Historic Worship Service followed by “Birthday Party” coffee hour, Monroe Congregational Church History Book “Binding Covenant” will be available for purchase.

Visit www.mcc-ucc.org for more info.