Some old time meeting houses of the Connecticut Valley . in1714 and stood at a point half way down the broadstreet near where it intersects the Northampton after it was built quite extensive im-provements were made in the interior of the house,and in 1738 Eleazer Porter built a sounding board andcanopy for it. Judds History of Hadley has the follow-ing foot-note: Such a structure over the preacher andpulpit was named sounding board and canopy inEngland. In this country it was several feet high, hada peculiar form, with several sides and angles, andwas generally of very nice workm
Some old time meeting houses of the Connecticut Valley . in1714 and stood at a point half way down the broadstreet near where it intersects the Northampton after it was built quite extensive im-provements were made in the interior of the house,and in 1738 Eleazer Porter built a sounding board andcanopy for it. Judds History of Hadley has the follow-ing foot-note: Such a structure over the preacher andpulpit was named sounding board and canopy inEngland. In this country it was several feet high, hada peculiar form, with several sides and angles, andwas generally of very nice workmanship as well as theprojecting front of the pulpit A spire about onehundred feet high was added to the church sometimeafter 1753. It is believed that the weathercock,purchased in London, was placed upon the spire atthis time. Baileys Dictionary, 1737, says: The cockis generally placed on the tops of steeples in England,and is called the weathercock. This second meeting house was used for nearly acentury, having been sold and moved away in the fall 58. CHURCH AMD TOWN HALL, HAULKV of 1808. George Whitefield preached in this meetinghouse on one occasion in 1740. Judd in his History ofHadley, referring to Whitefields visit, observes, It hasbeen said that when he preached in Hadley, his voicewas heard in Hatfield. Whitefield was not allowedto preach in Hatfield, but many of the people of thatplace went to Northampton and Hadley to hear him. The present house of worship in Hadley datesfrom 1808 and was erected near the site of the secondmeetinghouse. The only part of the second churchused in the new building was the weathercock, whichwas regilded and mounted in its place. The architectof the third house is unknown. The steeple waspatterned after that of the North Church, Boston, onwhich the lantern was hung out for Paul Revere, whenabout to take his famous ride to Lexington throughevery Middlesex village and farm. The chairman of the building committee was oncea lawyer in Boston an
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