Union Meeting House "1852" Somesville, Maine C60

Union Meeting House "1852" Somesville, Maine C60

A view of the Union Meeting House on Main Street in Somesville, Maine. In 2020 the meeting house is known as the Somesville Church and is a United Church of Christ congregation A brief history of the origins of the meeting house is as follows: "Although the first Congregational Church was officially formed on Mount Desert Island in 1792 at Southwest Harbor, by 1840 the residents of ‘Twix-the-Hills, now called Somesville, decided to form their own church and started making plans to erect a building to house it – their stated purpose was “to support the gospel and its ordinances.” Financial support came form twenty men who agreed to be taxed at $5 each for the support of the gospel, and twenty-three others who chose to “subscribe” from $1 to $15 each. Among them were Athertons, Kittredges, Freemans, Gotts, Newmans, Someses, Prays, Richardsons and Babsons—names still familiar today. The new church was to contain “from forty to fifty-five pews as subscribed for, with a singer’s gallery at the rear, the total cost to be held within the limits of $1500 and $2500. In 1852 land was given by John Somes and the church was built at its present location at a cost of about $2,500. The Sewing Circle, organized at this time, raised $300 and sent Rebecca Somes to Boston to buy the steeple bell, which pealed its first summons in 1858, and the “voice of the Meeting House” still rings each Sunday morning. Several communicants were baptized by immersion in the Millpond. It was not until 1876, however, that a covenant was signed for the new church in Somesville separating it from the early Southwest Harbor Church. Dr. Robert Grindle and Cyrus Hall were two of the men who were instrumental in this move. Mr. Hall, from whom the Quarry on Somes Sound takes it name and who for years employed hundreds of men, took the lead in securing a resident minister and agreed to be responsible for the minister’s salary. -- Source: https://www.sumhucc.org/history