Allenstown Meeting House
Allenstown Meeting House | |
Allenstown Meeting House | |
43°9′37″N 71°22′53″W / 43.16028°N 71.38139°W / 43.16028; -71.38139 | |
Area | 0.4 acres (0.16 ha) |
---|---|
Built | 1815 (1815) |
Architect | Kenison, James, Samuel & Nathaniel; et al. |
Architectural style | Federal |
NRHP reference No. | 04001327[1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | December 06, 2004 |
Designated NHSRHP | July 26, 2004[2] |
The Allenstown Meeting House (also known as Old Allenstown Meeting House; Church of Christ; Christian Church) is a historic meeting house on Deerfield Road in Allenstown, New Hampshire. Built in 1815, it is New Hampshire's only surviving Federal-style single-story meeting house to serve both religious and civic functions. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 2004,[1] and the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places in July 2004.[2] It is presently owned and maintained by the town.
Description and history
The Allenstown Meeting House stands in a rural setting on the north side of the town, on the north side of Deerfield Road west of New Rye Road. Although it is within the boundaries of Bear Brook State Park, it is currently owned and maintained by the town. It is a single-story wood-frame structure with a gable roof, resting on a granite foundation. It has a heavy timber frame and is sheathed in wooden clapboards. The main facade faces the road to the south, and is five bays wide, with a central door flanked by two windows on either side. The interior has retained its original box pews and pulpit. The northwest corner of the building was damaged by arson fire in 1985, but has been sensitively restored. Interior features include a slightly sloping wooden floor, to improve visibility by people sitting in the rear of the hall.[3]
The meeting house was built in 1815 on land donated by Judge Hall Burgin, originally intended as a church. The church proprietors were financially unable to complete the building, so the town stepped in to finance its completion. It served as the town's main civic and religious building from then until 1876, when it was abandoned for civic purposes, and the small Protestant congregation dispersed to other area churches. In 1908 the town deeded its ownership share to a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), which oversaw its maintenance. After an arsonist attempted to burn it down in 1985, the DAR chapter offered it to the state, which undertook some restoration in 1993–94. The town acquired it from the state in 2004. It is the only surviving single-story meeting house of the period in New Hampshire.[3]
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Merrimack County, New Hampshire
- New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 193: Old Allenstown Meeting House / Meeting House Burying Ground
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ a b "New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places". New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
- ^ a b "NRHP nomination for Allenstown Meeting House". National Park Service. Retrieved 2014-10-16.
External links
- Official website of town committee
- v
- t
- e
- Canterbury Shaker Village
- Daniel Webster Family Home
![Merrimack County map](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Map_of_New_Hampshire_highlighting_Merrimack_County.svg/90px-Map_of_New_Hampshire_highlighting_Merrimack_County.svg.png)
- Bear Brook State Park Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp Historic District
- Blossom Hill and Calvary Cemeteries
- Concord Civic District
- Concord Historic District
- Downtown Concord Historic District
- East Andover Village Center Historic District
- Franklin Falls Historic District
- Hay Estate
- Hersey Farms Historic District
- Murray Hill Summer Home District
- Page Belting Company Mills
- Pittsfield Center Historic District
- Suncook Village Commercial–Civic Historic District
- Waterloo Historic District
- 2½ Beacon Street
- Boscawen Academy and Much-I-Do Hose House
- Boscawen Public Library
- Bradford Town Hall
- Concord Gas Light Company Gasholder House
- Contoocook Railroad Depot
- Eagle Hotel
- Endicott Hotel
- Hall Memorial Library
- Henniker Town Hall
- Jacob Noyes Block
- Merrimack County Bank
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- Millville School
- New Hampshire Savings Bank Building
- Old Post Office
- Pembroke Mill
- Pillsbury Memorial Hall
- Pleasant View Home
- Potter Place Railroad Station
- Robie's Country Store
- Rolfe Barn
- Salisbury Academy Building
- Stanley Tavern
- Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse
- William H. Long Memorial
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- Donald D. Tuttle House
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- Leavitt Farm
- Lewis Downing, Jr. House
- Matthew Harvey House
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- Reuben Foster House and Perley Cleaves House
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- White Farm
worship
- Allenstown Meeting House
- Baptist New Meeting House
- Bradford Center Meetinghouse
- Center Meetinghouse
- First Congregational Church of Boscawen
- Hill Center Church
- Loudon Town Hall
- Lower Warner Meetinghouse
- Northfield Union Church
- Old Webster Meeting House
- South Danbury Christian Church
- South Sutton Meeting House
- Webster Congregational Church
- Beaver Meadow Brook Archeological Site
- Old North Cemetery
- White Park