First Parish Church | |
Location | 217 Maine St., Brunswick, Maine |
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Coordinates | 43°54′38″N69°57′47″W / 43.91056°N 69.96306°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1845 |
Architect | Richard Upjohn |
Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
Part of | Federal Street Historic District (ID76000092) |
NRHP reference No. | 69000008 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | December 02, 1969 |
Designated CP | October 29, 1976 |
The First Parish Church is an Open and Affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ. The church meetinghouse sits at 217 Maine Street in Brunswick, Maine. Built in 1845 to a design by Richard Upjohn, it is a unique example of Gothic Revival architecture done in wood, as the church was built with vertical board-and-batten paneling. [2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. [1] The congregation dates to 1717. The Senior Pastor is Rev. John Allen.
The First Parish Church occupies a prominent location on a rise between downtown Brunswick and the Bowdoin College campus, which lies directly to its south. It is a single-story wood frame structure, whose Gothic Revival features include a buttressed tower, lancet-arched openings for doors and windows, and vertical board-and-batten siding. It originally had a spire, which was blown off in a storm in 1866 and not replaced. [3]
The church congregation was founded in 1717, for which this is the fourth church. It was built, on the site of the third church, in 1846 by the labor of the congregation, to a design by the noted American architect Richard Upjohn. Funding was provided in part by Bowdoin College, and it has been used by the college for commencement exercises and other activities. The attached vestry was built in 1883. [3]
On May 2, 1851, American author Harriet Beecher Stowe had a vision while sitting in pew 23 of the church wherein she saw an enslaved man wounded from a beating he endured from his enslaver. [4] The incident inspired her book Uncle Tom's Cabin . [5] After years in disrepair, the church underwent extensive restoration, which was completed in 2004; the restoration earned the church a Maine Preservation Honor Award in 2006. [2]
External videos | |
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C-SPAN Cities Tour - Augusta: Harriet Beecher Stowe & Uncle Tom's Cabin, 14:06, C-SPAN [6] |
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans. The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.
Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. Brunswick is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Peary–MacMillan Arctic Museum, and the Maine State Music Theatre. It was formerly home to the U.S. Naval Air Station Brunswick, which was permanently closed on May 31, 2011, and has since been partially released to redevelopment as "Brunswick Landing".
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is a historic home in Cincinnati, Ohio which was once the residence of influential antislavery author Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
The Stowe Center for Literary Activism is a history museum and National Historic Landmark at 73 Forest Street in Hartford, Connecticut that was once the home of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Stowe lived in this house for the last 23 years of her life. It was her family's second home in Hartford. The 5,000 sq ft cottage-style house is located adjacent to the Mark Twain House and is open to the public. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2013.
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, also known as St. Andrew's Church is a historic church building on County Highway 12 in Prairieville, Alabama. Built by slaves in 1853, it is a remarkably well-preserved example of Carpenter Gothic architecture, its design apparently taken from a book by Richard Upjohn. St. Andrew's was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1973, and was declared a National Historic Landmark on the same day. Public access is allowed to this National Historic Landmark.
St. Luke's Episcopal Church is a historic Carpenter Gothic church, built during the 1850s at Cahaba, the first capital of Alabama from 1820 to 1826. The unknown builder closely followed plans published by architect Richard Upjohn in his 1852 book Rural Architecture.
St. Philip's Church in the Highlands is an Episcopal church located on New York State Route 9D in the hamlet of Garrison, New York, United States, within the town of Philipstown in the Hudson Highlands. It is a stone Gothic Revival building designed by Richard Upjohn, a congregant of the church, opened in 1865.
All Saints' Memorial Church is a small stone Gothic-style Episcopal church built in 1864 by Richard Upjohn in Navesink, New Jersey. The church complex, which includes the rectory, stable, and carriage house, is a well-preserved example of the late work of Upjohn. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 15, 1974, for its significance in architecture and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
Grace Church is an historic Episcopal church at 300 Westminster Street at Mathewson Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It was built in 1845–1846 and was designed by Richard Upjohn in the Gothic Revival style.
The Harriet Beecher Stowe House is a historic home and National Historic Landmark at 63 Federal Street in Brunswick, Maine, notable as a short-term home of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Calvin Ellis Stowe and where Harriet wrote her 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Earlier, it had been the home of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as a student. It is today owned by Bowdoin College. A space within the house, called Harriet's Writing Room, is open to the public.
Calvin Ellis Stowe was an American Biblical scholar who helped spread public education in the United States. Over his career, he was a professor of languages and Biblical and sacred literature at Andover Theological Seminary, Dartmouth College, Lane Theological Seminary, and Bowdoin College. He was the husband and literary agent of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the best-seller Uncle Tom's Cabin.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church is a historic church at 27 Pleasant Street in Brunswick, Maine. Built in 1845, it is a distinctive early example of a modest Carpenter Gothic design by Richard Upjohn, then already well known for his larger-scale Gothic churches. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The rector is Rev. Carolyn H. Eklund.
Centre Street Congregational Church is a historic church at 9 Center Street in Machias, Maine. Built in 1836–37, it is an important early example of Gothic Revival architecture in northern New England, apparently based on an early design by the noted Gothic architect Richard Upjohn. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The congregation is affiliated with the United Church of Christ; its current pastor is Rev. Susan Maxwell, M. Div.
St. Mark's Episcopal Church was a historic church at 9 Summer Street in Augusta, Maine, just west of downtown. The congregation, founded in 1840, occupied an 1886 Gothic Revival stone building designed by Richard M. Upjohn and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 for its architecture. The congregation moved out in 2015.
St. James Episcopal Church is a historic church at Center and Main Streets in the heart of Old Town, Maine. Built in 1892, the church is one of four works in the state designed by the Gothic Revival specialist Henry Vaughan. It is one of Old Town's few 19th century landmarks, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Its current minister is the Rev. Jane White-Hassler.
The Josiah Henson Museum of African-Canadian History is an open-air museum in Dresden, Ontario, Canada, that documents the life of Josiah Henson, the history of slavery, and the Underground Railroad. The historic site is situated on the grounds of the former Dawn settlement established by Henson; a runaway slave, abolitionist, and minister. Through his autobiography, The Life of Josiah Henson, Formerly a Slave, Now an Inhabitant of Canada, as Narrated by Himself, he served as the inspiration for the title character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.
The Henry Boody House also known as the Boody-Johnson House, is an historic house at 256 Maine Street in Brunswick, Maine, United States. Built in 1849, it is an important early example of Gothic Revival Architecture, whose design was published by Andrew Jackson Downing in 1850 and received wide notice. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 1975.
The Federal Street Historic District of Brunswick, Maine encompasses a part of the town whose development was influenced by its 18th-century success as a shipping center, and by the presence of Bowdoin College, whose historic central campus is part of the district. In addition to the campus, the district includes a series of relatively high-style Federal and later-period houses along Federal Street and Maine Street, which join the campus to downtown Brunswick. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Nook Farm is a historical neighborhood in the Asylum Hill section on the western edge of Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
Phebe Ann Jacobs was an American Congregationalist, laundress, and free woman. Best known for her posthumous biography Narrative of Phebe Ann Jacobs, Jacobs was born into slavery on the Beverwyck plantation in Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey.