Community Corner
Sixth Week - Sunday's "Medfield Historical Minute"
A little something to read and learn to give you a little break during this time of boredom during isolation due to the Coronavirus Crisis.
A Medfield Historical Minute...
This "Medfield Historical Minute" is brought to you by town historian Richard DeSorgher.
A little something to read and learn to give you a little break during this time of boredom during isolation due to the Coronavirus Crisis. A different "Medfield Historical Minute" will appear each day during the Crisis.
"By 1808, membership in the Medfield Baptist church had fallen to just 14 resident members, 12 women and two men, with the two men very old. There was talk of disbanding the church. But one Sabbath morning in the early part of 1808, Medfield was surprised be a line of horse-drawn carriages coming from the east, down what is today RT 109. They made their way through Medfield Center to the little Baptist Meetinghouse on West Main Street (now 584 Main Street). There 60 people entered the church. They had come from the West Dedham Parish (today Westwood) where there had been sharp division over the location of a new meetinghouse. To avoid paying part of its cost, these families decided to worship with the Baptists at Medfield. Their townspeople called them “Mad Baptists,” but it saved the church in Medfield. With additional members the church was able to employ a regular preacher. This led to Rev. William Gammel coming to Medfield as their minister."
