The Buildings Of First Church

The first meetinghouse of this church was finished in 1748 on the site just west of our present Parish House. It was a rude structure with no plastering to keep out the cold. Neither comfort nor aesthetic appeals to the senses was considered proper at this time. Facing south it had one door on the south side, the long side, and separate stairways for men and women, but no porch or spire. Inside there were only twelve pews and the pulpit on the long north wall, the minister's wife's pew being just east of it, the other pews bought by men in order of their standing in the town "rates." There were also long seats in the body of the house and galleries for less important members of the congregation, evidence of class distinctions.

The tract of land which had been first given in 1744 especially "to set a meetinghouse on", is substantially with later additions that which we know today as the church property, the first parsonage being near the ground of the present church structure. There was also 'Some' meadowland for use by the minister in the early days. Although the first minister, Mr. Pell, had been promised a house by the precinct, it was only slowly completed sometime after 1751, and when his widow returned to Maine in 1753, this parsonage was held as the "Ministerial House" for occupancy by later clergymen until 1782 (when it had to be sold with its barn to defray precinct expenses!) The Rev. Jonathan Mills refused to come to Harwich in 1766 until this house was "lathed and plastered for him."

In 1791 the original meetinghouse facilities were deemed inadequate; it was taken down and work began on the second building, which came to be known as Mr. Underwood's Meetinghouse. Put up just east of the old one, the large barn like structure, with two stories and seats for rive hundred, was entered through a vestibule on the south. It was almost square and had no steeple. Part of its oak frame came from trees in town. The men of the church provided the labor and chose the colors: red and yellow "oker", the trim white and doors chocolate. The whitewashed interior was set off with rich sea green woodwork. This meetinghouse had a wainscoted interior, square pews, galleries, a high pulpit across from the entrance in front of a "magnificently large window" of clear glass, and a communion table (or shelf) hanging below the pulpit. On the pulpit was the only cushion in the building, of green velvet, on which rested the Bible. High over the minister's head, arching down from the ceding was the sounding board, dark green above, white below. As in the original house there was nothing of symbolic decoration to remind these descendants of the Pilgrims of the hated Anglican and popish customs.

Many years later Deacon Sidney Brooks was to recall the view through the windows during summer Sunday afternoon services with "changing clouds on the deep blue heavens, green earth and modest flowers and clover heads, and small gravestones 'standing thickly over the sleeping congregation on God's acre.' " This building also housed weekday revivals. One eloquent, eccentric and bearded preacher (in a day when all others were shaved) drew such crowds that timbers had to be braced against the walls to prevent structural collapse.

In place of a parsonage Mr. Underwood built his own large and convenient home on a twelve-acre tract west of the meetinghouse, north of the main street and south of Island Pond. For a long time, with its substantial outbuildings, it was quite the grandest domestic establishment in the village. Shortly before his death Mr. Underwood sold it to the town for an almshouse.

The second meetinghouse was to become so dilapidated and unfit for worship after only forty years that it was voted to sell it in six lots by public auction in 1832. Proceeds from the sale were $163.50, part of which was used for fencing in the parish graveyard late that fall the third meetinghouse was completed at a cost of $2,437.47. Moses B. Lakeman was the master builder for its construction. This building, later remodeled and modernized several times, is where we presently worship. It was 40' by 54' with semi circular topped windows and galleries on three sides. Even before it was fully completed, the minister, Mr. Kimball, began holding services in it, the parishioners seated on rough benches and timbers. In the belfry hung the bell donated by Captain Thomas Snow.

A new parsonage was built about 1840 across the road on land given by Obed Brooks, Esq. This was to house most of our ministers from the Rev. William H. Adams on until 1899, when it was removed up Pleasant Lake Avenue beyond the Old Colony right of way, where it still stands, a modest, modified red Cape Cod structure, having no relationship to the church.

In 1854 the parish decided to enlarge and renovate its house of worship under the direction of a Boston architect, J. D. Towle. To this gentleman we owe the exterior and part of the interior as it stands today, a lovely example of simple, early Victoriana. The cost was $6,000. The Towle work is still called beautiful, and despite later changes, the spirit of his style remains. The steeple, more than one hundred and thirteen feet high from the ground is now known as the most photographed on the Cape and contains the old bell. An entrance area, the narthex, was constructed below the new steeple. Inside, the galleries and partitions were removed to enlarge the auditorium. Windows and curved cushioned pews of a then more up to date style replaced the old ones. A frescoed recess for the pulpit was "splendid." We do not know just what this or its predecessor pulpit may have looked like, but from other similar structures of that day, it is likely that it was still in the center somewhat elevated and perhaps approached by curving stairs, matching the graceful pair of stairways, leading to the rear gallery for the organ and choir. The remodeled church structure was impressively dedicated on May 16, 1855, the Rev. Edward Beecher of Boston, brother to both a famous sister and fellow preacher, giving a sermon based on "And there was great joy in Samaria."

On the memorable night of January 19, 1876, this building that had heard hellfire preaching was to be tried by fire from without. The old Exchange Building, Brett's Store and Mrs. Turpie's house east across the street went up in flames and smoke. A fortunate change of wind saved the church, which escaped with only a scorched and blistered exterior. This incident and one where the steeple was hit by lightning in the 1940s fortunately have been the building's only experience with fire.

In 1881 the ladies of the Sewing Circle decided to build a chapel of their own for religious and social purposes. At a cost of $2,000 this building with a mansard style roof was erected on the land by the road and cemetery southwest of the large church. (This was to become the genesis of our present Parish House.) Our three buildings (church, chapel, and parsonage) were now standing in the heart of the busy town, new stores and several hotels.

Through the generosity of Miss Sarah G. Brooks, the large Broadbrooks parsonage was built in 1899. The name on the building was that of the English ancestors of the many generations of Brooks who lived in Harwich. It was styled in the latest mode of turn of the century architecture with only its shingles resembling anything of the Cape Coo cottages of the village. During the Depression years this house was rented to the manager of the A & P store next door, to help provide income tat the church, such ministers as came and went having to arrange for their own housing.

Mr. Towle's church had undergone minor changes but when the Carnegie pipe organ was placed in front of the congregation in 1909 location necessitated places for the choir members near it, and a rod supporting a green velour curtain to screen their feet. A long platform bore potted palms and a central reading desk type of pulpit from which a frock coated minister gave the sermons. The general effect in a contemporary photograph seems rather dark and ponderous to us today.

For the 200th anniversary of the church in 1947 the building was completely renovated and repainted. The interior color choices of off white and gold seemed most refreshing. Two handsome chandeliers were hung over the center aisle. New gas furnaces with floor registers were installed in both the church and parsonage. A modem kitchen with hotel range and hot water was installed in the ladies chapel. The greatest change of all was to remove a few front rows of pews and to create a chancel in the church as a focal point of worship. This Anglo Catholic ecclesiastical styling of an altar and pulpit and lectern to the sides with choir stalls had become very popular in the thirties throughout American churches of all denominations despite differing beliefs. Deacon Frank Underwood rightly pointed out that such styling here would be a distinct break with the practices of historic and traditional Congregational worship. However the Rev. Mr. Thurlow was anxious to carry out the plan and it was accomplished. Certainly the light and airy results of the total renovation, which we still have with us, are preferable to what it replaced. And the improvements to all the three church properties cost only $12,000!

By 1954 the church's facilities for religious education were so inadequate that a major building project costing $40,000 took place. Through the imaginative skill of Lloyd N. F. Spicer, a Boston and Harwich architect, the original ladies chapel was reconstructed and enlarged to create a colonial style building with the parlor and kitchen area separated by sliding doors from a large hall. The second floor was divided, into three rooms for children's classes. The cornerstone was the gift of Henry T. Crosby, one of our deacons for many years. Men of the church did much work. During the remodeling the Ladies Benevolent Society met in the town Recreation Building. One day Harry Meyer excitedly burst into the room and said, "Ladies, if you want to save your parlor, you'd better get right over there!" Everyone hurried to the construction site before the parlor was lost, and thus it is as of now.

To meet the steady growth of the church and further upgrade its physical facilities, a major capital improvement drive was begun during the Elliot pastorate. Over a three-year period $73,558 was pledged, received and expended. A choir room wing was constructed off the narthex, which also contained a flower room and the first lavatories ever to be built in the main building of the church itself. The Broadbrooks parsonage was now at the corner of a busy traffic intersection and in need of modernization. There was also need for an adequate church office for the minister and secretary, who had been sharing a small, closet like room off the parish hall. Fortunately the church was able to buy for a parsonage an attractive, almost new "half Cape" house with four bedrooms about one mile east of the center in the Woodlands development. Its floor plan is ideally suited for parsonage use today. The Broadbrooks building was converted into office and church school facilities. A new wing of attractive paneled rooms for education was attached, behind it an adjacent lot purchased and black topped for parking.

In relatively modern times there have been more and more resources available for maintenance and upkeep of the church's buildings. For instance in the 1960s the interior was redecorated and the walls were tinted a soft rose color, which is presently complemented by rich red carpeting and velvet hangings, providing a warm and fitting setting for worship. The church has received some major bequests, including an attractive lot on the Herring River in West Harwich from the Flager Foote estate. At the February meeting of the church, which called the new minister in 1971, an additional interesting warrant was also unanimously approved, the purchase of acreage north of the meetinghouse and cemetery along Pleasant Lake Avenue. No doubt the coming years will see specific plans made to use these lands for the benefit of the church.

During the leaner years now gone the church turned over the responsibility for care of its old cemetery to the town. The nostalgic charm of this old area of Harwich Center today is summed up on the gravestone for Enos and Polly Nickerson, who left this life in 1820 and 1854:

Just as Deacon Brooks long ago so beautifully recorded his impressions of our second meetinghouse, we close this chapter with these words by a couple recently retired from the Boston area and now new members of old First Church: "We sense the friendly atmosphere immediately on entering the door, notice the vase of flowers and overhead the beautiful star lighting fixture. After a welcome by the greeters at the inner doors to the sanctuary and being seated with a smile by the ushers we always find it a pleasure just to sit and admire the flowers in the front and baskets of flowers on each windowsill. While listening to the prelude, we feel the peace and friendliness passed from person to person which inevitably recalls with gratitude the words of the Psalmist, 'I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord'.

In 1989 the church built and dedicated the Memorial Garden west of the Church Cemetery and for our two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, the church voted to conduct a capital campaign to expand the facilities of the church properties to accommodate anticipated growth and continuing strength. The church's Capital Campaign raised 100's of thousands of dollars and it embarked on a building program that involved the complete renovation and enlargement of the Thrift Shop, a renovation of the Parish Hall, and now the reconstruction of the Narthex/Elliot Room and the refurbisment of the Sanctuary. Today's celebration of the reopening of our church is a remembrance of our 257 year sojurn together.