MassachusettsThe South Harwich Methodist Church at 270 Chatham Road, built in 1836, occupies a prominent site on the south side of Cape Cod and was the town's second Methodist seat of worship, erected on land deeded by John Paine Eldredge. The simple, clapboard, gable-roofed meetinghouse has no tower and blends Greek Revival framing pilasters and cornice with distinctive Gothic Revival lancet-headed windows and doors. Its remarkably intact interior retains original pews, pulpit, light fixtures, and trompe l'oeil wall coverings of Corinthian columns and classical arches, and it is surrounded by a burying ground whose first graves date to 1829. One of the oldest and best-preserved Methodist churches on Cape Cod, it was listed under National Register criteria A and C at the local level.
South Harwich Methodist Church
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South Harwich Methodist Church is a landmark in Harwich, Barnstable County. It is one of 6,558 landmarks documented in Barnstable County, among 6,897 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 41.6780, -70.0466 near Harwich. The nearest cataloged historic site is Bethel Cemetery (cemetery), about 0.8 miles away. Others within a short drive include Eldridge, Levi W. Barn, House at 2713 Main St, and House at 2715 Main St.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The South Harwich Methodist Church on Chatham Road in South Harwich was built in 1836 as the town's second Methodist meeting house, on land given by John Paine Eldredge, and is a well-preserved example of an early-19th-century Cape Cod church blending modest Greek Revival and Gothic Revival features. Methodism had reached Cape Cod in the 1790s through Reverend Jesse Lee, whose first church was built in East Harwich in 1799. The congregation later split over slavery, with the more conservative faction keeping the building, and in 1878 it reunited with the East Harwich church to share a minister. Noted for its trompe-l'oeil interior paintings, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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