National Historic Landmark
Which site was the heritage designation of Rockingham Meeting House between Apr 2002 and Jul 2007?
Rockingham Meeting House The Rockingham Meeting House , also known as Old North Meeting House and First Church in Rockingham , is a historic civic and religious building on Meeting House Road in Rockingham , Vermont , United States . The Meeting House was built between 1787 and 1801 and was originally used for both Congregational church meetings as well as civic and governmental meetings . Church services ceased in 1839 but town meetings continued to be held in it until 1869 . It was restored in 1906 and has been preserved . It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000 as an exceptionally well-preserved second period colonial-style meeting house . The building , owned by the town , is available for weddings and other events under rules established by the town . Description and history . The Rockingham Meeting House is set on the north side of Meeting House Road , on a parcel of land about in size that it shares with the towns original burial ground , whose oldest marked graves date to 1776 . Meeting House Road is the location of Rockinghams original town center , laid out after the French and Indian War ended in 1763 , with the overall victory of Great Britain against France in the Seven Years War . The building is a large two-story timber-frame structure , with a side-gable roof , clapboard siding , and a granite foundation . The main ( south-facing ) facade is five bays wide , with a symmetrical but slightly irregular placement of windows around the center entry . The main entrance is flanked by pilasters and topped by an entablature and triangular pediment . Enclosed two-story gable-roofed stairwell ells extend from the each side of the building , with a similarly decorated south-facing entrance . The main entrance opens into a central hallway , through a floor filled with box pews to the pulpit area , which features the original sounding board . The second-floor gallery , which wraps around three sides of the building , is also lined with box pews . The elevated pulpit area is wide , and is accessed by stairs on its left side . The pulpit is one of the few unoriginal elements of the building having been restored in 1906 . The only other significant alterations have been to replace windows . The town of Rockingham was first settled by primarily Anglo-American colonists after the French and Indian War ended in 1763 . Discussion about the construction of a meeting house began in 1771 , and culminated in the construction of a building at this site in 1774 . That building remained in use until the construction of the current one , which was approved by the town meeting in 1787 . Documentation is unclear about when the building was completed : the first recorded town meeting was held in this building in 1792 , at which time it was not complete . The town in that year approved use of the building by local Christian congregations for services . Over the ensuing years , the various church congregations built their own buildings . The original Congregational group ended its services here in 1838 , as peoples religious affiliations changed . The building continued to be used for town meetings until a new town hall was constructed in Bellows Falls in 1869 . The original pulpit was removed about 1850 , and most of the original benches lining the pulpit area were removed . Although the building was vacant for many years , its exterior was maintained . The interior was subjected to vandalism and the theft of artifacts , including door hardware and hand-cut nails . After being unused for many years , the building was restored by the town in 1906 . The first Old Home Day and Pilgrimage to the Meeting House was held in August 1907 . It narrowly escaped the fire which burned much of the adjacent Rockingham Village on April 14 , 1908 . A Meeting House Association was formed in 1911 through the efforts of Professor Franklin Hooper , director of the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute . Hooper was the great-great-grandson of one of the original members of the First Church of Rockingham at its organization in 1773 . The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 , and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000 . It is an extremely well-preserved example of a second period colonial meeting house , in which the principal entrance was on the long wall . Its setting is still reminiscent of how it would have appeared at the time of its construction . Its landmark designation includes the building , cemetery , and receiving tomb .