Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Acworth, New Hampshire Meeting House - Weathervane and Horse Sheds

 It's Weathervane Wednesday!  Today's weathervane was photographed in Acworth, New Hampshire at the meetinghouse which still retains its horse sheds behind the building. 



This simple banner weathervane is original to the Acworth Meetinghouse, built in 1821. It appears to have been regilded and restored when the steeple was removed and renovated in 2011.   It is currently the Acworth Congregational Church, also known as The Church-On-The-Hill.  This Federal style steeple and cupola hold up the gilded weathervane.  Banner weathervanes are very common on meetinghouses and churches of this era in New England. 

The meetinghouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and restored with LCHIP monies in 2011.  The original congregation was founded in 1773, and this is the second meetinghouse erected in Acworth.  Last year the congregation celebrated its 200th anniversary with a concert, bellringing, books sale, crafts and a chicken barbeque.  


Acworth Meetinghouse
This property has been protected
with assistance from the
NH Land and Community
Heritage Investment Program
2011

The horse sheds behind the meetinghouse

The little red convertible visits the horse sheds.
Behind the reflective glass was a
horse drawn carriage used by parishioners 

The sign reads:
This property has been protected with assistance from
LCHIP  Land &Community Heritage
Investment Program
[Known in NH as the "Moose Plate" project,
monies collected from moose license plates for preservation]


For the truly curious:

Preservation Timber Framing led the effort to restore the Acworth Meetinghouse in 2011.  Click here to see their webpage on this restoration:   http://www.preservationtimberframing.com/acworth-meetinghouse-preservation-honor-award/    

Preservation Timber Framing also completed the restoration of the steeple at the First Parish Meetinghouse in East Derry, New Hampshire:   http://www.preservationtimberframing.com/east-derry-derring-do/   

More photos from my blog about the East Derry project:




A very nice video of the Acworth Meetinghouse, by drone with closeup views of the weathervane:

From the United Church of Acworth, a video on the history of the meetinghouse:


Click here to see over 475 other weathervanes featured at this blog:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday  

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Acworth, New Hampshire Meeting House - Weathervane and Horse Sheds", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 28, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/09/acworth-new-hampshire-meeting-house.html: accessed [access date]). 

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