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Arnold Mills Methodist Church (United Baptist Church)

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United Baptist Church
1825–1827. 1846–1847, remodeled. 1956, chancel wing. 1961–1962, chancel. 1–3 Nate Whipple Hwy.

Seven years after it was built as a Baptist church, this became the second Methodist church in the state. It has been much altered—from Federal to Greek Revival, then twice enlarged and altered, not very happily, in the twentieth century, as well as re-sided. What results is a gabled two-story box topped by a chunky octagonal cupola, appearing the more boxy for the sparseness and small scale of both its openings and its rebuilt porch. Inside, it originally had balconies along either side and toward the doors, with the pulpit placed between the doors but out in front of the balcony, which housed the choir. This unusual, but not unique, positioning of the pulpit at the entrance end of the church was reversed in 1846, when the floor level of the audience room was also raised to the level of the balconies, with a vestry (now offices) added beneath. The extant Greek Revival woodwork and furniture date from this time. Finally, in the course of the twentieth-century renovations, the chancel was added.

Writing Credits

Author: 
William H. Jordy et al.
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Citation

William H. Jordy et al., "Arnold Mills Methodist Church (United Baptist Church)", [Cumberland, Rhode Island], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-CU15.

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