page_title: List of the oldest churches in the United States
hierarchical_section_title: List of the oldest churches in the United States
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Ship Church in Hingham, Massachusetts.
context_page_description: Old Wye Church - 1721 - Wye Mills Maryland - Originally a “Chapel of Ease” as a part of St. Paul’s Parish in Centreville, MD. Later became a separate parish. The building underwent a complete restoration in 1949 through the auspices of Arthur Houghton, of The Corning Glass Works family. An exact replica of the original Vestry Cottage was created at the same time, utilizing the original design drawings which had been preserved by the church.
  The designation of the oldest church in the United States requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest Christian church congregation. There is a distinction between old church buildings that have been in continuous use as churches, and those that have been converted to other purposes; and between buildings that have been in continuous use as churches and those that were shuttered for many decades.
  In terms of congregations, they are distinguished between early established congregations that have been in continuous existence, and early congregations that ceased to exist.
context_section_description: Old Wye Church - 1721 - Wye Mills Maryland - Originally a “Chapel of Ease” as a part of St. Paul’s Parish in Centreville, MD.  Later became a separate parish.  The building underwent a complete restoration in 1949 through the auspices of Arthur Houghton, of The Corning Glass Works family.  An exact replica of the original Vestry Cottage was created at the same time, utilizing the original design drawings which had been preserved by the church.
  The designation of the oldest church in the United States requires careful use of definitions, and must be divided into two parts, the oldest in the sense of oldest surviving building, and the oldest in the sense of oldest Christian church congregation.  There is a distinction between old church buildings that have been in continuous use as churches, and those that have been converted to other purposes; and between buildings that have been in continuous use as churches and those that were shuttered for many decades.
  In terms of congregations, they are distinguished between early established congregations that have been in continuous existence (sometimes through great theological changes), and early congregations that ceased to exist.  Some of these churches are located in areas that were part of the thirteen original colonies that made up the United States in 1776. Others were built in states and territories that were later annexed, such as Louisiana, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico.  Sites on the list are generally from the First Period of American architecture or earlier.
  To be listed here a site must:
  be the oldest church in a state, territory, large city (top 50), or oldest of its type (denomination, architectural, etc.);
  be freestanding (not a ruin or mound, as there are separate lists for those); and/or
  be the oldest congregation of its type (denomination).
caption: Old Ship Church (1681), Hingham, Massachusetts, the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meeting house in the US, and the oldest church building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the nation
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