Name/Title
First Congregational Church | River Road, Cherryfield, Maine | Cherryfield Historic DistrictDescription
Built:1883
Address:
River Road
Cherryfield, Maine
National Register
HISTORIC DISTRICT
Cherryfield Historic District
ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
Victorian
From Sunrise County Architecture (2nd revised and enlarged edition) 1996, p.93
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF CHERRYFIELD
The Congregational Church of Cherryfield on River Street was built by Charles A. Allen of Cherryfield. Mr. Allen may have also been the architect for this Victorian stick-style church. Construction began in 1882 and was sporadic over the next three years. The church was dedicated in 1885. A one story wing was added to the west side of the building, and extended in 1975. The church has beautiful rosette windows, ornamental woodwork in its gable end and cross gable, bracketed cornice and round headed windows. Woodwork on the ridgepole and finials on the gable end were removed at an earlier date. AFN
rn
From National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet
Section number 7, Pages 21-22
rn54. First Congregational Church, 1883 - C River Road
Charles A. Allen, Architect and Builder
The lone religious property in the district, the Congregational Church is an asymmetrically massed frame building whose exterior ornamentation reveals an eclectic blend of Gothic, Italianate, and stick Style detailing. Its facade is composed of a projecting transept surmounted by a belfry, a slightly recessed entrance vestibule to the left and the more deeply recessed nave sidewalls. A large lancet arched window occupies the gabled and sawn ornamentation highlights the gable peak. Additional lancet arched windows are located in the nave sidewalls and the large window is repeated on the north end. Two of the three windows on the south end are treated with Gothic drip moldings whereas the third has an Italianate hood. There is a small rose window below the south gable peak, and decorative sawn details in both gables. A shed roofed addition spans most of the rear elevation. The building is sheathed in weatherboards and it rests on a concrete block foundation of more recent origin.
Organized on October 20, 1833, Cherryfield's Congregational Church did not commence the construction of its own building until the summer of 1882. In March of that year its members agreed to erect the church as designed by Charles A. Allen. Allen was also awarded the building contract. Work on the structure proceeded slowly, apparently due to a lack of funds, and it was not completed until the Fall of 1884. However, the basic frame and exterior must have been largely completed at an early date since the Cherryfield Herald reported in its November, 1882 edition that the "congregationalist Chapel is a neat and pretty building." It was formally dedicated on July 15, 1885.