Description
The colonial meeting house was the central focus of every New England town. These structures were usually the largest building in the town. They were very simple buildings with no statues, decorations, or stained glass. Crosses would not even hang on the walls. Box pews were provided for families, and single men and women (and slaves) would typically sit in the balconies. Large windows would be located at both the ground floor and gallery levels. It was a status symbol to have lots of glass in the windows - glass was expensive and had to be imported from England. A pulpit window, between the levels of the ground floor and gallery windows, would typically be in the center of the north wall. This window is one of the hallmarks of a colonial meeting house.
Since it took considerable effort to build a new post-and-beam end wall, the need for additional space was often accommodated by cutting the building in half, separating the front and back halves, and filling in the space between them. At this time it was also common to build steeples over the entrances, either incorporated into the building, or as part of an entrance porch that was added to the building's end. Many of the "typical white New England" church started out as a colonial meeting house.
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