Plymouth, Massachusetts
This ship was launched in 1956 as a replica of the Mayflower which first brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620.
First Church of Christ in Plymouth
Later this church became known as First Parish Church. It was situated on the flanks of Plymouth's Burial Hill.
Third Church of Christ in Plymouth in 1801
Almost half the members of First Church were, at their request, dismissed from First Church on September 24, 1801 in order to leave Rev. Kendall's ministry and gather a new church. Led by John Bishop, that dismissed group met a week later on October 1 and gathered the Third Church. In 1870 that church was renamed "The Church of the Pilgrimage."
The house John Bishop owned is on Plymouth's Summer Street. It is known as the Harlow-Bishop house today. Bishop was a Deacon of both First Church and the new Third Church. Some early Third Church meetings were held in his house. He also served as a Selectman of Plymouth.
Supporting Religion
Massachusetts was the last New England state to end its financial support of churches.
New 1840 Church Building
This church was originally built with 3 aisles, 92 pews with doors, and an organ loft with 80 sittings--an estimated total of nearly 700 seats. It also likely had one or two stoves in the back whose piping ran the length of the church and up the front wall of the sanctuary to the attic and then chimneys extending above the roof.
When it was first built that sanctuary was originally lit with candles and/or whale oil lamps.
A February 1917 record of our church indicates repairs were also needed then, due to a winter storm which "blew down a portion of the tower." A 1953 church worship bulletin indicates the church's steeple was completely rebuilt then.
On May 16, 1954, this addition was built to expand the church on two levels. It then cost $26,477.59.
at Plimoth Plantation
This is a replica of the Pilgrims' 1622 building which was located on what today is known as Plymouth's Burial Hill.
Rev. Robbins served First Church from 1760 until his death in 1799. Like many Congregationalists of his day he was a strong Calvinist and he refused to baptize children if neither of their parents were church members.
October 1, 1801
Following Congregational practice, the Third Church was "gathered" when its first members entered into this solemn Covenant with God and each other. In 1802, the Massachusetts Legislature incorporated the Third Congregational Society in Plymouth making it eligible to receive town taxpayer dollars to support the ministry at Third Church.
from First Church
These churches were formed due to the growth of communities seeking the convenience of having their own church nearby or to internal theological differences which divided First Church.
Allston designed the 1840 house of worship in Plymouth's Town Square for the Third Church. The Allston section of Boston was named after him.
As the local "Old Colony Memorial" newspaper noted at the time of the church's dedication:
"The interior is purely Grecian, and presents a colonade of pilasters extending around the house, adorned with capitals copied from the Tower of the Winds at Athens . . . This Church received its name in commemoration of the great event of the Pilgrimage of our Puritan fathers to this sacred spot, and also in allusion to the fact that its location is but a few feet distant from the place where they first erected their Tabernacle for Jehovah."
Burial Hill Declaration of 1865
American Congregationalists came to Plymouth on June 22, 1865, shortly after President Lincoln's death, to honor their Pilgrim heritage and declare their faith and vision for their future. They made that Declaration from Burial Hill, then visited the Pilgrim-descended First Church and Third Church on the flanks of that hill. That same day they all gathered around Plymouth Rock and John Adams Whipple took their picture, which is shown above.
From Burial Hill one can see First Church (First Parish), The Church of the Pilgrimage, the town of Plymouth, and Plymouth's harbor.
Joseph Everett Chandler, noted Colonial Revival architect, enlarged the church's front, adding three palladian windows and also a new top section of the tower badly damaged in 1898. The church likely was painted light grey and white in this period.
As Seen in 1911
Charles H. Rutan, a noted architect with Boston firm "Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge" and summer attender of our church, provided the plan for our sanctuary's redesign in 1910. Following Reformed Protestant tradition, Congregational churches long had Communion tables, not Altars, believing that Jesus Christ died only once for the world, not repeatedly in Communion services as an altar was sometimes thought to suggest. Also, most Congregational churches did not have crosses in their sanctuaries until the 1930's-50's, as following the Zwinglian tradition, such objects in a church had long been thought to be a distraction from true worship rather than contribute to it.
the United Church of Christ
In 1948 our church voted to approve the eventual merger of the Congregational-Christian and Evangelical and Reformed denominations to form the United Church of Christ. The UCC was formed in 1957 at a national meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, which our church's minister then [Rev. Edwin T. Anthony] attended as a voting delegate. Once the UCC was officially formed, our church became a member of it. Though our church has evolved significantly since its 1801 gathering, it has always remained within the mainstream of American Congregationalism. For example, by January 1, 1962, 74.7% of the reported 5,402 Congregational-Christian churches in America, including our own church, had become members of the United Church of Christ.
of the Pilgrims' Meeting-House/Fort
Rev. Kendall served First Church from 1800 until 1859. Opposition to his settlement at First Church came from First Church Deacon John Bishop and others who felt Kendall was too liberal and not a strong Calvinist like the church's former minister, Rev. Robbins. First Church members voted 23/15 to settle Kendall at First Church. Citizens of Plymouth's First Precinct, who were then required to pay taxes to support First Church's ministry, voted 253/15 in favor of his settlement.
Third Church in 1809
In 1812 Adoniram Jr. became one of America's very first foreign missionaries. While traveling to his mission post overseas his views on Baptism changed with the result that he felt compelled to leave Congregationalism. He ultimately became a famous Baptist missionary who long served in Burma.
Designed By Washington Allston
Allston designed that church building in Modern Tuscan Style with a tower 78 feet high. At that time, a new society, the Society of the Pilgrimage, was formed to support Third Church. The chapel shown here on the left of the church was dedicated in 1852.
Around Our Nation
Our church invited representatives from American Congregational churches to gather to make plans for observing the 250th Anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrims in 1870. That meeting was soon followed by other Congregational meetings and the creation in 1871 of the:National Council of Congregational Churches of the United States. Thus, American Congregationalism had its first continuing, national, denominational organization.
Our church was rededicated after it had been moved 20 feet westward and raised 9 feet to create a level below the sanctuary with a parlor and a room named Allerton Chapel. Also, stained glass windows had been installed in the sanctuary and a heating unit(s) put on that lower level to send heat up to the sanctuary through floor registers.
The Church of the Pilgrimage's Tower
Architect Chandler indicated that his inspiration for the design of our church's tower after the 1898 blizzard came to him during a trip to Italy, when he saw a church in Italy's northern section, near Milan. Chandler couldn't remember that church's name or town. It seems likely that his inspiration came from the tower of the church pictured above, which is the Church of St. Mary of Mount Berico in Vicenza, Italy, about 135 miles east of Milan.
The Church of the Pilgrimage
A transition in belief is evident at least by 1883, when the church voted to delete from its Articles of Faith the explicit statement that in Christ's judgment the wicked after their deaths will be "sent into everlasting punishment." More transition is evident in this pronouncement made in a 1926 worship bulletin of our church:
"No creedal subscription is required for members in the Church of the Pilgrimage. The only requirement in brief is this: That one desires to think of God as Jesus did; to love God as Jesus did; and to serve God as Jesus did. He who so honestly desires is a Christian."
Plimoth Plantation - 1957
of the Meeting-House/Fort
Reformed Protestant worship of that period typically had a central pulpit and a low railing enclosing it, on which was a lectern used for Bible readings and leading Psalm singing. Baptisms and weddings were also conducted within that railing.
Built in 1801
Rev. Kendall had only been settled at First Church about 5 months when Deacon John Bishop and others, at a cost of $233.58, bought land on Pleasant Street, just west of Plymouth's Training Green, to build a new church on. That 60 X 52 foot church was built in 1801 and had a cupola. After 1840 that building served as a town high school. It was torn down in 1890 or later.
Rev. Judson, a Congregationalist, served as Moderator at the 1801 Gathering which created the Third Church of Christ in Plymouth. He also served as Third Church's first Pastor from 1802-1817. He then became a Baptist, as did his famous son, Adoniram Jr., in 1812.
Deacon John Bishop and His Wife AbigailJohn and Abigail died two days apart in 1830 and were buried in the same grave on the East side of Burial Hill. John is thought to have been born about 1744 in Bristol, England.
1840 Church of the Pilgrimage
Forged By Henry N. Hooper and Co.
This bell and its tongue weighed 1210 lbs and cost $331.40. Hooper was an apprentice in Paul Revere's Boston foundry. Later, Hooper bought that foundry. Hooper's foundry forged its first bell in 1838 and also became known for making chimes, decorative lighting, and artillery for the Union Army during the Civil War.
"The Church of the Pilgrimage"
Church records indicate that at a January 30, 1870 meeting of the church, "Brother T. Gordon" recommended this name change. At a church meeting the following May 5th, "It was moved that the proposed change be made and adopted, passed by a unanimous vote without discussion."
Our church was incorporated in 1890, one of the earlier ones in Massachusetts to be incorporated. The Society of the Pilgrimage apparently was disbanded after that incorporation. And apparently, near that time a new category called the "Congregation" was established in our church's Bylaws. That category was defined as consisting of "such persons of lawful age as habitually worship with the Church and contribute in its recognized methods for the support of its services." That new category likely was created to include former members of that disbanded Society who were not also members of the church. That category appears to have remained in our church's Bylaws until at least 1939, but not in 1947.
This additional building for church activities was designed so its exterior would resemble the Pilgrims' Meeting-House/Fort. The building was dedicated on September 22, 1968 as Pilgrim Church House. It was renovated and rededicated on December 11, 2005 as the Rev. John Robinson Center, in remembrance of the Pilgrims' Pastor.
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