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2049 Meetinghouse Way, West Barnstable, MA 02668
1717 Now the oldest Congregational Church building in the United States and the oldest public building on Cape Cod, construction started with the hewing down of great oak and pine timbers from nearby hillsides.
Oak framing was shaped by adzing: Pine beams, posts and planks were sawed and trimmed over a saw pit dug at the building site.
Oak roof buttresses were curved by hanging them with weights at either end for a year.
Chamferring, beading and woodworking were all done with simple tools.
The high pulpit and sounding board, the galleries, panels and pews bespoke the skill of the village craftsman.
1719 Finished, the Meetinghouse not only became the permanent home of the church that gathered 103 years before in England but for the next 130 years was also to be the scene of Barnstable town meetings reflecting the close union of State and Congregational Church that existed in early Massachusetts.
For a time in later years, the Meetinghouse was also to house the village public school.
1723 By now too small, the Meetinghouse was cut in half, the ends pulled apart and eighteen feet added in the middle.
The bell tower was erected and the gilded weathercock that stills crowns the structure was ordered from England.
1775 Stormy town meetings, particularly during the Revolutionary and War of 1812 periods, periodically necessitated major repairs to the Meetinghouse.
1806 Paul Revere & Son was commissioned to cast the half-ton bell that today still summons the Church to worship.
The bell was bequest of Col. James Otis, father of James Otis, "The Patriot" of Revolutionary fame.
1849 After 130 years, the Meetinghouse ceased to be the scene of the town meetings and public support of the building was withdrawn.
1852 Too poor to demolish the old structure and erect a new church building after the earlier example of other parishes, the West Parish remodeled the Meetinghouse to the neo-classic style characteristic of the mid-1800s.
The old bell tower was torn down and a spire and belfry erected in its stead.
Windows and doors were changed.
The high pulpit, galleries and box pews gave way to "modern" replacements.
Inside and out, the appearance of the building was so completely altered that nothing of the old Meetinghouse was visible.
Underneath it all, however, the original structure - frame, floor, walls and roof - remained untouched and intact.
1907 A new one manual pipe organ is installed in the Meetinghouse by the Moeller Organ Company.
1953 Again calling on local skills, the long-proposed restoration of the Meetinghouse to its early grandeur was undertaken, sponsored by the West Parish Memorial Foundation and under authoritative historical and architectural guidance.
1957-59 A large pipe organ is crafted by Harold Andrews, a local member of the community.
1999 An Organ Committee is assembled to research the potential solutions to the failing Andrews organ.
Members of both the Church and the Foundation are called to propose whether to replace, rebuild or install a new organ.
2005 A new pipe organ custom built by Mander Organs Ltd. of London, England, is installed in the Meetinghouse completing the restoration of the Meetinghouse.
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