First Parish Church (Plymouth)
The First Parish Church is a church building completed in 1899 in Plymouth , Massachusetts . The church is located in Plymouth city center on Town Square at the foot of Burial Hill. The church and its predecessors date back to the first Puritan ( congregational ) congregation in New England founded by the Pilgrim Fathers . Later the church turned to Unitarianism .
history
The First Parish Church dates back to the early English-born Puritan ( Calvinist ) immigrants who came to North America on the Mayflower in 1620 . With the establishment of the city of Plymouth , a congregational church was also formed, which became part of the new State Congregational Church of Massachusetts. In 1801, however, the majority of the community turned to anti-Trinitarian Unitarianism, which had become widespread in the New England states in the 19th century. The parishioners who did not want to follow the move to Unitarianism built the neighboring Church of the Pilgrimage in 1840 . The First Parish Church ward became a member of the American Unitarian Association, founded in 1825, and is now a successor to the Unitarian Universalist Association . The neighboring congregational community is now a member of the United United Church of Christ .
In the early years, services were held in a fortress on Burial Hill. In 1648 the first church building was finally built. Subsequent buildings followed in 1744 and 1831. After a severe fire in 1892, the current building was completed in 1899 in a neo-Romanesque style. Of particular note are the stained glass windows that tell the story of the Pilgrim Fathers. The church is also a vivid example of a hammer beam vault . The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
See also
literature
- James W. Baker: Plymouth , Charleston SC 2002
Web links
Coordinates: 41 ° 57 ′ 19.9 " N , 70 ° 39 ′ 53.8" W.