First Congregational Church and Cemetery

Historic church in New York, United States

United States historic place


First Congregational Church and Cemetery
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


44°16′40″N 73°34′5″W / 44.27778°N 73.56806°W / 44.27778; -73.56806
Area	8.6 acres (3.5 ha)
Built	1812
Architectural style	Early-late 19th-century vernacular
NRHP reference No.	04001457^[1]
Added to NRHP	January 5, 2005

First Congregational Church and Cemetery is a historic Congregational church and cemetery on US 9 at Elizabethtown-Lewis Road in Lewis, Essex County, New York.

According to a church historian (Mrs. Milford Lee), a group of residents met in Elizabethtown on 12 June 1812 to organize a local Congregational church. Those present included Rev. Cyrus Comstock and Rev. Burbank, as well as fourteen local residents who became members of the church.^[2] The church was built between 1823 and 1834 and slightly modified in the late 19th century. It is a rectangular, gable roofed frame building sheathed in clapboard siding. It features a large, central bell tower with an elegant Federal style belfry topped by a bell cast roof. Adjacent to the church is the 7.6-acre (3.1 ha) village cemetery established in the 1820s and still in use today.^[3] Among those laid to rest in its cemetery is the suffragist Inez Milholland.^[4]^[5]

The church became part of the larger United Church of Christ in February 1961.^[6]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ Brown, George (1905). Pleasant Valley, A history of Elizabethtown, Essex County, New York. Elizabethtown, New York: Post and Gazette. pp. 252–253.
^ Nancy L. Todd (September 2004). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: First Congregational Church and Cemetery". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2010-07-14. See also: "Accompanying five photos".
^ "Inez Milholland Memorial, Lewis, N.Y., 1924". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
^ "Inez Milholland's Grave". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
^ Reiner, Alvin. "Lewis church celebrating 2 centuries". Press-Republican. Retrieved 2020-04-21.