Newfane Hill Service

The church's annual service on Newfane Hill was held on Sunday, June 29 - commemorating the date when the church was first gathered on June 30, 1774. The service was held near the monument of the first Windham County Courthouse and the old "whipping post," and just a short distance from the site of the first Meetinghouse. This area near the top of Newfane Hill is the site of the original Newfane settlement and town center. The County seat and most of the village was moved to Park Flats in the early 1830s, now the village of Newfane.


After the service, we were invited to the home of Bucky and Carleen Pelsue at the top of Newfane Hill for our iced tea hour and a period of good conversation and distant, though hazy, vistas.

Sunday School Program

The Sunday School did the Children's Time on Sunday, June 22. They gave a brief program on what they had studied during the year.

Annual Congregational Meeting

The 233rd Annual Congregational Meeting was held on Wednesday, June 18. Twenty-five people attended the meeting which was ably and graciously moderated by Debbie Cook. The written reports of the boards, committees, and organizations showed a church which has been busy and active in the past year, and bits and pieces of these reports will be included in upcoming issues of "The Steeple."

Three items should be highlighted. The Board of Deacons had an unusually large number of vacancies due to completion of terms and resignations because of family health issues. The Nominating Committee was unable to fill a two year vacancy on the six person board. When someone is willing to fill this vacancy, the Council will make the appointment.

In the Heritage Festival report, Carleen Pelsue wrote that after twelve years chairing the Festival, this will definitely be her last year. This major event provides about a third of the church's budget. As yet, the church is looking for one or two people to take on this responsibility.

The meeting also heard from outgoing Trustee Rick Wilson who showed a very preliminary model for a 16' x 28' addition to the back of the church to provide a second stair exit from the sanctuary, a handicap lift, and eventually space for the church office space and a pastor's office. The meeting responded positively to the plan and approved the Trustees contacting an architect. The church's capital fund has about $40,000, a good start for this potential project.

25 Nations Represented at SIT Evening in Newfane

For the third year, the church hosted an evening in Vermont for women and men participating in the “Summer Peace Building Program: Conflict Transformation across Cultures” at the School for International Training. They represented 25 countries and many cultures.

The evening began in the historic Windham County Court House where Side Judge Maryann Clarkson spoke about the Vermont judicial system.

The participants did a walking tour of the village, visiting several of the local businesses and the library.

Then they came to the Newfane Church where church members and friends were waiting with a good old-fashioned church potluck dinner and conversation around the tables.


After dinner, Chris guided the group through introductions, then spoke about the history of the church, church and state in Vermont, and the community service of the church. As Town Moderator, he also spoke about democracy in Vermont and citizen participation in town affairs.

Newfane's State Representative Dick Marek talked about state government and issues which Vermont faces. Chris and Dick together took questions and reflected on civility and order in public life.

The Newfane Bell Choir played "Let There Be Peace on Earth" and the entire group joined in singing.

Chris concluded the evening by extending Newfane's hope that all of us might know peace in our time and our place, and - whatever the name we may use - God's blessing .

Don Maher Retires as Music Director

On Sunday, June 8, the worship service was filled with music as Don brought his many years of music ministry to a conclusion. Family, old friends, and choir alumni joined the church's choir under Don's direction. Newfane native Peter LaMoira was on the organ, Martha Clark (co-music director for the last year) was on piano. Add in the Newfane Bell Choir, plus oboe, and guitar accompaniments, and a full church intent on honoring Don's "compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience." The last hymn in the service was also Don's favorite: "When In Our Music God is Glorified" - the title exemplifies Don's lifetime of providing music in churches, including the Newfane Church since his return to Newfane in 1991. Thank you Don!

Characterized by his warm smile, Don prepared the choir for the Sunday service.



Sunday morning, Don rehearsed the church choir, which included family, choir alumni, and friends.



Don with Martha Clark, co-music director, and Peter LaMoria, guest organist and former Newfane resident, and the choir.



Don was overwhelmed with the regard and affection displayed by the congregation. He is speechless as the congregation stands at the end of the service and recognizes his long music ministry.



As the reception wound down after the service, Chris and Don took a moment to rest on the steps to the sanctuary.

Pastoral Search Committee

With the Church Profile completed in May 2008, the Committee was then ready to begin advertising for the position of pastor for our church. The primary advertising medium was through the VT Conference-UCC [VTC-UCC]. We also placed ads in selected denominational newsletters/magazines and sent copies of the announcement to several divinity schools. In early July, Rev. Pam Lucas, VTC-UCC, met with the Committee to help us effectively read and evaluate the applicants’ Ministerial Profiles. She brought with her the first set [9] of applicant profiles.

Including the first set of 9 profiles, and over the course of the rest of the year and through March 2009, we received a total of 29 Ministerial Profiles. There were 15 female applicants and 14 male applicants. Surprisingly, there was only one Vermont applicant. There were 10 other New England applicants and 5 additional Northeast applicants. Rounding out the applicant pool: Midwest – 7; South – 3; and West – 3. Each Ministerial Profile was very thoughtfully and carefully read and evaluated by each member of the Committee. The profiles were then reviewed and discussed by the full Committee, and a decision made whether or not to consider each applicant further. This process, over a period of 10 months, led the Committee to select 6 applicants with whom we would conduct telephone interviews. From these, we identified 3 candidates we wished to observe further in a neutral pulpit.

You now are all aware of the final outcome of this effort. On April 6, 2009, the Search Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Church Council extend a Call to Rev. Sandy Daly. Monday, April 13, 2009, the Council unanimously voted to affirm the recommendation. Following Rev. Daly’s acceptance of the Call, the Moderator, Treasurer, and Search Committee Chair met with her to work out the details of the Call Agreement. Saturday, May 30, 2009, Rev. Sandy Daly, with her husband, Rev. Roger Daly, joined church members and friends for a potluck get-acquainted supper. The following Sunday, May 31, 2009, Rev. Sandy Daly conducted the worship service, and directly following the service, the church members present unanimously voted to accept Rev. Daly as our new settled pastor. She officially begins her pastoral duties on Sunday, June 14, 2009.

The Pastoral Search Committee is especially grateful to members and friends of the Newfane Congregational Church for their prayers, patience, and support during this process. We are also deeply appreciative of all applicants’ interest in our church and wish them success in their respective searches.

Random Photos

The Church & Heritage Festival

Churches with a small membership often struggle to pay the expenses of the church. As the costs of heating, utilities, insurance and upkeep on old buildings rise, they become increasing threats to the survival of a congregation. The Newfane Church is no different.

What is different about the Newfane Church, is that it holds only one fund raiser a year in order to supplement the support provided by members and friends - the Heritage Festival. The "benefit" which Heritage Festival provides allows the church to cover these expenses and to open its building to a wide range of community uses including:

• Senior meal served monthly
• Newfane Bell Choir
• Weekly "well Fitness"
• "Sew Whats" sewing group
• Yoga for health
• Early Childhood Play Group
• Kitchen use by Newfane Business Association for its activities on the Common
• Decemberfest soup & concert
• Weekly Al-Anon meeting

The Heritage Festival also ennables the church to give generously to community organizations which address the medical, physical, and social needs of people in the community. Included in this local mission giving is:

• Grace Cottage Hospital
• Valley Health Council
• Fuel Assistance
• Morningside Shelter
• Newbrook Fire Department
• Newfane Children's Christmas Fund
• Brattleboro Hospice
• Habitat for Humanity
• Women's Crisis Center

The church also supports the wider mission of the United Church of Christ and gives to two church founded NGOs in India which support spiritual, educational, medical and economic development for people living in the foothills of the Himalayas.

This continuing presence and mission is possible because the church's 70 members are supported by an additional 200 members and friends in the community and throughout the Northeast who help with Heritage Festival every year - flipping hamburgers, slicing pie, popping popcorn, emptying trash, peeling apples, rolling dough, dicing potatoes, sorting fleas and dusty old books, moving tables and chairs, and doing the hundreds of other jobs.

... and then there are the 80 plus artists and craftspeople who display their work - and the thousands of visitors who wander about the Common, lunch in the Food Tent or Church Deli, try their luck at the Super Raffle, take home a home-made pie, and have an all-time good time at one of southeastern Vermont's premier events during Vermont's most colorful season.

For complete information about the Newfane Heritage Festival go to www.newfaneheritagefestival.org

The Church Today

The First Congregational Church of Newfane (also known as the "Newfane Congregational Church," or just the "Newfane Church") has about 65 active members who are regularly involved in the worship and ministries of the church. There are also many members and friends (resident and non-resident) who are connected with the church and often contribute in many ways to the life of the church.

In 1999, the Church defined its Mission with the following statement:

As Members of the Newfane Congregational Church Our Mission is to live and grow together in faith.

Our Goals are for all ages and all people:
☞ To witness to God's Love by sharing with and caring for people in our local and global communities.
☞ To provide lively worship in a welcoming atmosphere.
☞ To offer enrichment through opportunities for learning, spiritual growth, and service. To participate in these opportunities as individuals.

Even in laid back Vermont, life is often hectic, focused on activity and material concerns. The Church's place on the Common is a reminder that life has a spiritual component, and that values like "faith, hope, and love" are of greater significance to life's fulfillment than the values of acquisitiveness, consumption, and activity that predominant in our culture.

The Church holds Sunday Worship Services at 10am, with special services at Christmas, Lent, and Easter. Communion is observed the first Sunday of the month (except during Lent). The history of the Churches of our area are observed each year. On the last Sunday of June and July, worship services are held, respectively, on Newfane Hill (where the church was first gathered) and at the Brookline Church on Grassy Brook Road.

For a small membership church, the Newfane Church has a remarkably vital music ministry under the direction of Martha Clark, an experienced and talented musician. Martha provides the organ and piano music which accompanies worship, directs the volunteer choir, and arranges for special music and musical events. In addition, the church sponsors the Newfane Community Bell Choir which supplements the music of the church and provides bell choir music for community events and in neighboring churches.

Families with young children have begun participating in the church, making the time before, during, and after worship a lively and energetic time. Children participate in worship and share in a “Childrens’ Time,”after which they have Sunday School in the Fellowship Hall downstairs.

A Brief History of Newfane Church

The church was first gathered on Newfane Hill, June 30, 1774, as the "Congregational Church of Christ," with nine members, including Jonathan Park, the first settler in Newfane, and Luke Knowlton, holder of the original town charter. Early histories indicate that the church met in the courthouse, but the courthouse was not built until 1787 when Newfane became the shiretown. The first minister was the Rev. Hezekiah Taylor who began ministering in 1774 and was officially "settled" by the vote of a Town Meeting in November, 1781. Mr. Taylor served as minister until 1811.

At a town meeting in 1792, it was voted to build a meeting house, forty feet by fifty feet. The house was not raised until July, 1799. The pews were sold at public auction to pay for finishing the house.

With the removal of the shire to Fayetteville, the congregational church also shifted. In 1832, they joined with four other Protestant sects to build the Union Church (now Union Hall). There were fifty-two pews. The pews were sold at auction. Each sect "had the pulpit" for the number of Sundays equal to the number of pews which they had subscribed. The Congregationalists had 20 Sundays, the Universalists 19, and the Methodists 13.

In April, 1838, the Congregationalists decided to construct their own Meetinghouse in order to "secure the use and occupancy of the New Meetinghouse to the members of the Society and the control of the pulpit to the Congregational Church." The congregation changed its name to the "Orthodox Congregational Society of Newfane" in 1839.

By September, 1838, the new Meetinghouse had been raised. The next year all the structural work was completed and nine sheds for parishioners' horses were built behind the church. The building seated 300 people and was built at a cost of $4000 plus many donated materials. It was dedicated on Sunday, October 2, 1839.

The Congregational Meetinghouse underwent a major change about 1865 when the gallery was cut down and the "Desk" or Pulpit was altered. Historical records are sketchy, but this seems to indicate that the building was originally a single story structure with a main floor and gallery. With the gallery removed, the building could be divided into an upstairs place of worship and a downstairs area used for many different purposes.

In 1875, the Ladies’ Aid Society was organized, and a Young People’s Christian Endeavor Society began in 1888. Ministry with young people has long since taken other forms, but the Ladies’ Aid is still a vital part of the life and work of the congregation.

The choir was located in the back of the renovated upstairs worship space. In 1891, a platform was constructed adjacent to the rostrum for use by the choir.

In 1897, slate replaced the wood shingles on the church roof and more modern pews were installed in the sanctuary. A furnace was put in the first floor of the church in September, 1904, in place of the old wood-burning stoves.

In December, 1914, the church was incorporated in the State of Vermont as "The First Congregational Church of Newfane." Also in 1914, electric lighting was installed. Prior to this innovation light came from kerosene lamps, with reflectors, placed in swinging brackets fastened well up on each window casing. In the middle of the auditorium was a large chandelier hung from the ceiling and carrying a cluster of oil lamps.

During the summer of 1921, the church interior was redecorated through the efforts of the women of the church. The sanctuary of the building was completely refinished, including new lighting from Spain, in 1968.

The congregation was a member of the Vermont Congregational Conference until the Congregationalists nationwide merged into a new denomination, the United Church of Christ, in 1957. First Congregational Church of Newfane became part of the United Church of Christ in 1976.

Visit Newfane Common

Newfane Common is considered by many to be the most picturesque New England common, and it is certainly one of the most photographed. Standing on Route 30 and looking west, the Common is dominated by the Windham County Court House. To the left (south) is Union Hall. To the west is the Meeting House of the First Congregational Church.

The Town of Newfane (or township as it would be known in other parts of the country) was chartered in 1753 by Benning Wentworth, Governor of New Hampshire. Jonathon Park was the first settler in 1766, clearing land on Newfane Hill not far from the original town center, now near the intersection of Newfane Hill Road and Otis Lane. In 1787, Newfane became the shire town (or county seat) of Windham County.

About 1824, the shire was moved from Newfane Hill to Fayetteville (now Newfane Village), probably because travel was easier along the West River Valley, thus enabling easier access to the county builidings. Many of the building from the village on Newfane Hill were moved by oxen to the new village location.

The first two building erected on the common were the court house and the jail. What remains of the original jail complex (including the jail, an inn, barns and shed) is to the east of Route 30 and is the office of the Windham County Sheriff.

The stately Windham County Court House in the center of the Common is the culmination several building phases. Originally it was a federal-style building with a symmetrical boxlike shape; the federal-style is retained in the entranceway. Many changes were made to the Court House in its early years, with the most dramatic being in 1854 when the two story, Greek revival portico was added with the four majestic Doric columns. Finally, in 1907, the building was extended westward with the addition of two bays. The Court House was renovated and restored a few years ago, and continues to serve the judicial needs of Windham County.

To the south of the court house is Union Hall. This building began as a “Union Church” in 1832. Five Christian Sects (Congregationalist Restoration Order, Calvinistic Order, Methodist, Unitarian, Baptist) joined together to build this meeting house. The Fifty-two pews were auctioned, and the number of pews purchased by each sect determined the number of Sundays that sect would have the pulpit each year. In 1838, the dominate Congregationalists withdrew from the union and built the church at the west end of the Common.

Worship continued in Union Hall until 1854. The building then sat empty until 1872 when the village took over the building,. It was restored and remodeled. Now with a stage instead of pulpit and pews, the building was a regular venue for dramatic productions, dances, concerts, and meetings. This use continues to the present.

Surrounding the Newfane Common are two country inns noted for their hospitality and fine dining, a general store and country store supplying essentials to the community and its many visitors, and private dwellings (some of which began their lives on Newfane Hill).

During the summer, the Newfane Business Association sponsors free concerts on Wednesday evenings on the Common. Residents, neighbors, friends, and visitors gather for music, often a picnic supper, and always a pleasant time. On the first Sunday evening in December, the NBA “lights the Common” for the winter holidays, serves a soup supper in the Congregational Church, and celebrates the coming holidays with a concert by the church sponsored Newfane Bell Choir.

Other school and community groups hold occasional sales, craft shows, and events on the Newfane Common, but the premier event during the year is the Newfane Heritage Festival. Come anytime and enjoy the common public space of this beautiful New England common. Come on Columbus Weekend and experience the hospitality of a New England craft fair.

More information about the Common and the Village can be found in Historic Newfane Village by Robert L. Crowell (available at Moore Free Library, the Windham County Historical Society, and Olde and New England Books). Available at the library and historical society is Newfane’s First Century, the centennial proceedings published in 1877.