Meetinghouse Lecture Series to begin 300th Anniversary Celebration

Meetinghouse Lecture Series to begin 300th Anniversary Celebration

The congregation that is now the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead is about to begin celebrating the 300th anniversary of its founding.

Established in April, 1716, Marblehead’s Second Church (Congregational) began worshipping at its present site on Mugford Street (then New Meetinghouse Lane) almost 300 years ago, and has done so ever since. A church edifice has stood on the same property since that time. Congregational church buildings were called “meeting houses” in the 1700s, when the word “church” implied the congregation.

The current church is the congregation’s third building, constructed in 1911 after their second edifice burned in a fire in 1910. That second structure had been built in 1832 to replace the original 1716 meeting house, which was taken down that year, soon after the congregation had voted to shift from their traditional Congregational Trinitarian teachings to the new Unitarian perspective.

A part of the 300th anniversary celebration is the introduction of the Meetinghouse Series. The series will consist of five or six evening talks or other performances each year. All are open to the public Initially, the Series will focus on the history of Marblehead and the congregation’s history.

The opening event of the Meetinghouse Series will feature Judy Anderson, presenting an illustrated talk about the cultural and social context of Marblehead circa 1716, when the congregation first came into being. It will take place on Wednesday, April 8th.

Ms Anderson is a cultural historian who specializes in the social, architectural, and cultural history of the 17th and 18th centuries. A Marblehead resident since 1992, she served first as the Administrative Director of the Marblehead Historical Society (now the Marblehead Museum), then in several capacities there with the Lee Mansion (owned by the Historical Society since 1909), including as Lee Mansion curator for as long as the position existed. She has given talks about Marblehead’s architecture, history, and culture to museums and other cultural organizations locally and in other parts of the country for more than 20 years. Before coming to Marblehead, she worked at two large art museums in California for eight years, then at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Subsequent programs will include the founding of the new congregation in 1716 - in a talk by Robert Booth, Jr. on Wednesday, May 13 - and the life of Reverend Edward Holyoke, first minister of the congregation, then president of Harvard College in early October.

The original meeting house building was constructed in 1716. A steeple was added to it in 1723 – perhaps inspired by St. Michael’s Anglican Church nearby, which was built in 1714 with a spire.

The 1716 meeting house was “new” because its congregation had split away from an earlier one – the first in town, established in the 1600s – which had been meeting in a structure built in 1695 on the north side of today’s Franklin Street, where it meets today’s Washington Street (both streets named later on). That one had replaced the original 17th-century meeting house up at the burying ground that would become known as Old Burial Hill.

Both of those earlier buildings had also served, one after the other, as the town meeting places until a separate civic town meeting house was built in 1727-29, further up town, on Market Square, just a block from the “new” 1716 meeting house. That civic building became known as the “Old Town House” in 1876, the nation’s Centennial year, when construction began on Abbot Hall.

According to Robert Booth, who has written a history of the construction of the “Old Town House” (which was actually the new town house in 1729), the master builder was the same for both that and the “new meeting house” that is celebrating its 300th anniversary this year. The builder, William Goodwin, was brought to Marblehead to oversee the construction of the new church building, whose new minister, the Reverent Edward Holyoke, was a recent graduate of Harvard College.

It may all be a bit confusing, but it reflects the dramatic growth of Marblehead as the 1700s began.

Unitarian Universalists encourage free expression of philosophical, spiritual, and religious beliefs, work for social justice, provide religious exploration, deepen our acceptance of ourselves and others, and unite as a caring community.

Ms Anderson’s talk will be held at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 8th at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead, 28 Mugford Street. All are invited. A voluntary $10 donation will be accepted.

CALENDAR/PSA: Wednesday April 8, 2015 Marblehead Life and Culture around 1716 by Judyu Anderson. Unitarian Universalist Church 28 Mugford Street Marblehead starts at 7 pm Call 781-639-0191 for information and directions.