The Rockingham Meeting House: Settling, Governing and Worshiping in a Vermont Town

Hotaling, Christy

The Rockingham, Vermont Certified Local Government coordinator developed a curriculum about the Rockingham Meeting House and distributed it to 4th grade classrooms in Rockingham, Vermont for the 2015-2016 school year. The National Park Service’s Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) program guidelines were followed when developing this curriculum. From introduction: "On a hillside overlooking the quiet village of Rockingham sits the Rockingham Meeting House. The Meeting House was built over 214 years ago by the Town’s earliest inhabitants. This building is two and a half stories tall, it rests on the original stone foundation, the outside walls are clad in white wooden clapboards, and the roof is covered by slate shingles. The building’s interior remains the same today as it did when it was built in 1801; it still has its box pews, the minister’s pulpit, and carved graffiti from generations of bored youngsters. The Meeting House is surrounded by the Town’s first cemetery, which features headstones dating back to 1782. The history of most towns in New England shows that one of the first matters to be discussed by the early settlers was the construction of a town meeting house and the establishment of religious worship. The town of Rockingham, Vermont was no exception. After building their homes, Rockingham’s early settlers constructed a small, temporary meeting house in 1774. When the town could afford it, they replaced this building in 1801 with a larger meeting house, which has survived for over two centuries. Because of the Town’s dedication to preserving historic buildings, the Rockingham Meeting House stands today as the earliest public building remaining in Vermont in nearly its original condition. According to the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation, 'The Rockingham Meeting House, cemetery and the surrounding acreage is one of the more important visual documents of early town life in Vermont.' A visit to the Meeting House will take visitors back in time to experience the lifestyles of the Town’s earliest inhabitants." Funding for this project was provided in part through a 2014 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Town of Rockingham, Vermont (project number VT-14-003), administered by the Vermont State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P14AF00125) and the State, Tribal, Local, Plans & Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Rockingham, Vermont is a Certified Local Government.

The Rockingham Meeting House: Settling, Governing and Worshiping in a Vermont Town

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