Weathervane Wednesday ~ An Old New England Church

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post every week.  I started out by publishing only weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding interesting weather vanes from all over New England.  Sometimes these weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are very unique.  Often, my readers tip me off to some very special and unusual weather vanes.

Today's weather vane is from somewhere in New Hampshire.

Do you know the location of weather vane #262?  Scroll down to see the answer...

This is the First Congregational Church in Dunbarton, New Hampshire.  The first church built here was a one story building in 1766.  The first minister for the town, the Rev. Walter Harris, arrived in January 1789 and saw the construction of a larger meeting house that same year. Early in the 1800s there was a separation of church and state, and the Congregational society decided to build its own church building in 1836.  This is the building you see today.

The weathervane atop the steeple probably dates to the year of the church construction. It appears to be a gilded ball and arrow. This very simple and plain ornament on top of the church matches the simple construction typical of so many New England church buildings.  I love the false painted "windows" in the cupola at top of the steeple.  I didn't realize this was an illusion until I looked at the closeup photographs at home on a large screen monitor!

This church is located on the common in the center of the town of Dunbarton, at 6 Stark Highway.


The website for the First Congregational Church of Dunbarton, New Hampshire:
http://www.dccucc.org/

Click here to see the entire series of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

-------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ An Old New England Church", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 25, 2016,  (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/05/weathervane-wednesday-old-new-england.html: accessed [access date]).