Primitive Baptist Church of Brookfield

Last updated
Primitive Baptist Church of Brookfield
Primitive Baptist Church of Brookfield.jpg
Front (south) elevation, 2007
Religion
Affiliation Primitive Baptist
Ecclesiastical or organizational status church
Year consecrated1792 [1]
Statuspreserved
Location
LocationNY 6, Slate Hill, NY, United States
Geographic coordinates 41°23′25″N74°28′26″W / 41.39028°N 74.47389°W / 41.39028; -74.47389
Architecture
Groundbreaking1792 [1]
Completed1792
Specifications
Direction of façadesouth
Materials wood
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Added to NRHP November 13, 1976
NRHP Reference no.76001260 [2]

The Primitive Baptist Church of Brookfield, also known as the Old School Baptist Meeting House, is located along US 6 in Slate Hill, New York, United States, a hamlet of the Town of Wawayanda in Orange County. It was built in 1792, when the settlement was known as Brookfield. It is one of the oldest extant church buildings in the county, and one of the earliest buildings in the settlement that became Slate Hill.

U.S. Route 6 in New York highway in New York

U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in New York is a 77.85-mile (125.29 km) stretch of cross-country US Route 6 that spans from the Pennsylvania state line at Port Jervis to the Connecticut state line east of Brewster. Near both ends it runs in close proximity to Interstate 84 (I-84), which otherwise takes a more northerly route through Downstate New York. US 6, meanwhile, skirts the northern fringe of the New York Metropolitan Area.

Slate Hill, New York human settlement in New York, United States of America

Slate Hill is one of the eight hamlets found in the town of Wawayanda, New York. It is home to the Minisink Valley Central School District. Slate Hill is found in Orange County, New York, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. The area, along with its surrounding regions and the county in which it resides, has seen a recent surge in population growth that can be partially attributed to suburbanization from the New York City metropolitan area. This growth reached a peak in the post 9/11 era, but has since seen a decrease in the past 3 years.

New York (state) State of the United States of America

New York is a state in the Northeastern United States. New York was one of the original thirteen colonies that formed the United States. With an estimated 19.54 million residents in 2018, it is the fourth most populous state. In order to distinguish the state from the city with the same name, it is sometimes referred to as New York State.

Contents

In 1976 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places due to its age and architectural interest as a late example of vernacular building techniques much more common in the early 18th century. Although there were no members of the congregation from 1933 until 2004, local preservationists continued holding an annual service presided over by an Old School Baptist pastor from North Carolina, and in recent years the membership has been repopulated.

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

Vernacular architecture category of architecture based on local needs, construction materials and reflecting local traditions

Vernacular architecture encompasses the vast majority of the world's built environment, and thus resists a simple definition. It is perhaps best understood not by what it is, but what it can reveal about the culture of a people or place at any given time. The sheer range of global building types and developments--from Mongolian yurts to Japanese minka to American roadside commercial strips--suggests that vernacular architecture is everywhere, but tends to be disregarded or overlooked in traditional histories of architecture and design. As geographer Amos Rapoport has famously written, vernacular architecture constitutes 95 percent of the world's built environment: that which is not designed by professional architects and engineers. While such an understanding has its limitations, it nonetheless indicates the vastness of the subject and helps us recognize that all aspects of the built environment can impart something about the society and culture of a people or place. If nothing else, vernacular architecture cannot be distilled into a series of easy-to-digest patterns, materials, or elements. Vernacular architecture is not a style.

Building

Located on a slight rise on the north side of Route 6 just east of the intersection with NY 284 at the center of the hamlet, the church is a tall white two-story clapboard gable-roofed structure. A four-story tower with belfry and spire, added later, stands at the front. The north (rear) and west sides are two bays apiece and still have most of the original sashing on their windows. The east side has three bays, reflecting its onetime status as the church's main entrance, and it still has the classically detailed doorway with sidelights. The cornice's original dentils are still present but difficult to see. [1]

New York State Route 284 highway in New York

New York State Route 284 (NY 284) is a north–south state highway located entirely within Orange County, New York, in the United States. It begins just south of the village of Unionville at the New Jersey state line in the town of Minisink, where it connects to that state's Route 284. From Unionville, the route heads through rural parts of Orange County for just over 9 miles (14 km) to an intersection with U.S. Route 6 (US 6) in the hamlet of Slate Hill, located 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of the city of Middletown in the town of Wawayanda.

Clapboard (architecture) wooden siding on a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping

Clapboard or clabbard, also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.

Gable Generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesthetic concerns. A gable wall or gable end more commonly refers to the entire wall, including the gable and the wall below it.

Inside there are box pews typical of the era with raised and fielded panels, a late medieval touch. A hexagonal raised pulpit is mounted against the west wall. A three-sided gallery fills the building's second story; it can be reached via the tower stairs. The entire interior is done in unpainted white pine. [1]

Hexagon shape with six sides

or six sided figure

Pulpit speakers stand in a church

Pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin pulpitum. The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accessed by steps, with sides coming to about waist height. From the late medieval period onwards, pulpits have often had a canopy known as the sounding board or abat-voix above and sometimes also behind the speaker, normally in wood. Though sometimes highly decorated, this is not purely decorative, but can have a useful acoustic effect in projecting the preacher's voice to the congregation below. Most pulpits have one or more book-stands for the preacher to rest his or her bible, notes or texts upon.

Art museum Building or space for the exhibition of art

An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily concerned with visual art, art galleries are often used as a venue for other cultural exchanges and artistic activities, such as performance arts, music concerts, or poetry readings. Art museums also frequently host themed temporary exhibitions which often include items on loan from other collections.

A cemetery with gravestones dating to the era of the church's founding is located to the east. [1] The only outbuilding is a non-historic outhouse because there is no plumbing in the building.

History

The meetings of local Baptists that became the church began in 1783 at nearby Woodlawn Farm, the home of member Richard Wood, an early local settler. Eight years later, in 1791, the church was formally incorporated and the following year another member, Joseph Hallock, gave land for the church to be built. It took the Brookfield name from the growing settlement. [1]

Baptists denomination of Protestant Christianity

Baptists are Christians distinguished by baptizing professing believers only, and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the tenets of soul competency/liberty, salvation through faith alone, scripture alone as the rule of faith and practice, and the autonomy of the local congregation. Baptists generally recognize two ordinances: baptism and the Lord's supper.

Woodlawn Farm (Slate Hill, New York)

Woodlawn Farm, sometimes known as the Wood Homestead, is located on Mount Orange Road, a short distance north of Slate Hill, New York, United States. It is centered by a three-section farmhouse whose materials date to the mid-18th century, making it one of the oldest buildings in the Town of Wawayanda. In 2008 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Incorporation (business) the forming of a new corporation

Incorporation is the formation of a new corporation. The corporation may be a business, a nonprofit organization, sports club, or a government of a new city or town.

In 1828 the tower was added, with the stairs inside allowing more seating capacity within. Five years later, the church broke with mainstream Baptists and affiliated itself instead with the Primitive Baptist movement, which the year before had rejected the evangelical directions the denomination was taking in the Second Great Awakening. Believing that eschewing foreign missions and Sunday schools was more in line with early Calvinism, they were also sometimes called the Old School Meetinghouse of Brookfield. [1] They kept Brookfield in their name even after the postal service forced the hamlet to change its name to Slate Hill to avoid confusion with New York's other Brookfield, in Madison County.

After the Civil War stoves provided the building's first heat. Over the next few decades, the congregation began dwindling until its last member died in 1933. But trustees continued to hold the required annual meeting and maintain the building. [1] In 2004, two members were added to the empty congregation by vote of the trustees, presiding pastor, and representative members from other Old School Baptist congregations.

Aesthetics

The minimal, classically inspired ornament on the church's exterior suggests an acknowledgement of the emerging tastes of the time, as the Federal style was taking shape. But the interior's use of heavy, inpainted timber and raised and paneled pews recalls late medieval English building traditions, and the pulpit in particular is of a style found in late 17th- and early 18th-century churches in New England. The Brookfield church is a very late example of a style much more popular long before the Revolution. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)" (Searchable database). New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . Retrieved 2016-04-01.Note: This includes Larry E. Gobrecht (July 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Primitive Baptist Church of Brookfield" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-04-01. and Accompanying four photographs
  2. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service.
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