INSIDE THE KINGDOM July 5, 2017 the Chronicle Section B – 20 Pages Venerable church celebrates a milestone by Tena Starr WEST GLOVER — The pretty little Protestant church in West Glover, which turns 200 this month, has been through a lot: a lumbering move from its original location, a fire that was possibly arson and resulted in the building being gutted, renovations that include a basement and a new steeple, and a declining congregation. But it’s still standing, both literally and figuratively, and next Sunday, July 9, church members, and anyone else who wants to join in, will celebrate the church’s bicentennial with a series of events that will start with a service. The service won’t last all day, like so many enthusiastic church services did a couple of hundred years ago. But it will include what organizer Betsy Day called “an old-fashioned sermon.” Presumably, that means threats of fire and brimstone unless the congregation shapes up. From there, the day should lighten considerably, although the service itself will be tempered by folks impersonating the founders of the church, and Ms. Day will hand out shawls and bonnets in an attempt to recreate history. The church service will be followed by a kind of show and tell where people will share The church in West Glover has been relocated, razed by fire, and raised on a new foundation. Now 200 years memories and photos. Then there will be a after it was originally established at the old Parker Settlement, church members are planning a bicentennial hayride to the long-gone Parker Settlement, the celebration on Sunday, July 9. Photo by Tena Starr church’s original location, where there will be a potluck picnic. itself; it was on what’s now Bean Hill Road. It a rectangular building, for $1,050. The vestibule The celebration marks the two-hundredth still exists, sort of. It’s inside the house owned and steeple were added later. birthday of the church itself, not the building, by Gisele Clark. She and her late husband, Bob, The church building’s stay at Parker which came a little later. Seventeen people, built around it, Ms. Day said. Mr. Vance’s house Settlement was brief. By 1850, the people who three men and 14 women, got together back in turned into the Clarks’ living room. lived there had left, gone on to bigger lots, July of 1817 and decided to form a Protestant Mr. Vance was the first person to settle in farms, or into West Glover Village — then called church. At first, they met in the school building. Glover. He was followed by others, who originally Boardman Hollow — which had a sawmill, a It wasn’t until 1832 or 1833 that the building set up house at Parker Settlement, which is off creamery, a blacksmith shop, a cooper shed, an went up at Parker Settlement. the Parker Road. Ms. Day and Randy Williams overall factory, and a boarding house. Today, that original site is roped off and now own that land and have signs indicating “The days of the all day Sabbath meetings cleared with a neat wooden sign labeling it as where the original buildings were. and church picnics had come to an end and the the original home of the church. That’s thanks The first settlers lived in simple places, congregation decided to move their church down to the Boy Scouts in Barton, who have been mostly log cabins without windows, Ms. Day to the village as well,” Ms. Day wrote in a brief enormously helpful with their contributions to said. history of the church. “They jacked up the the upcoming celebration, Ms. Day said. Some But gradually, life eased. A sawmill at the original timber frame and put it on logs, and of the building’s old foundation is still visible. outlet of Parker Pond made it easier to build with teams of oxen they pulled it down the Back in the 1800s, money for the church frame houses. And there was a brick kiln at the Hinman Settler Road to its new foundation. building was raised by selling pews, she said. settlement. “We find bricks here all the time,” Two children were allowed to ride in it.” She told the sad story of one unfortunate couple Ms. Day said. In 1867, the church was modernized, with who sold an ox in order to buy a pew. Farming Settlers spread out, she said, leaving the the vestibule and choir loft incorporated into the without an ox was a daunting job, however, and original settlement for the village, or for bigger main body of the sanctuary. The steeple was the couple ended up working extra hard, in part tracts of land. added, and E.O. Randall presented a bell to put to buy shoes for their children. For working on Ms. Day is enormously interested in the in it, Ms. Day wrote. the Sabbath, they were excommunicated before history of the area, and has researched it In 1961, the basement was added. they even got to sit in the pew their ox had extensively. And in 2008, because of fire, a restoration bought. Six thousand years ago, glacial fund was started, and church and community The history of the church is tied up with that Memphremagog reached all the way from West members volunteered time and resources to of Parker Settlement itself, which has its own Glover to Montreal, she said. She said the shore rebuild the church, Ms. Day said. interesting past. of that ancient lake remains visible around the She said the fire caused the front of the It’s on the old Hinman Settler Road. It’s settlement. church to fall into the basement. hard to imagine today, looking at the little The melted glacier also left a circle of Twenty-one years ago, Ms. Day and her clearing surrounded by woods, but that isolated boulders that a Lyndon State College sister Peggy Day Gibson started Pioneer Camp, part of West Glover once included a significant archaeology professor got excited about when and starting about ten years ago they began roadway. she noticed it ten years ago, Ms. Day said. using the settlement area for the camp. It’s a And that, apparently, is how James Vance Apparently, it was a sacred space to the Native summer day camp where children learn about found what would become West Glover in 1793. Americans who inhabited the area at the time. outdoor skills, history, a little archaeology, and Ms. Day, a serious history buff, said Mr. Vance By coincidence, or not, the church was built go swimming in Parker Pond. started out in New Hampshire and walked to just feet from the circle’s back entrance. Ms. Day is hoping that Pioneer Camp Maine looking for the ideal place to start a farm. According to Ms. Day’s research, Parker alumni will also attend the July 9 picnic. Since Five years after passing through what would Settlement once had a store, operated by Ralph the camp averages about 50 kids a year, there become Parker Settlement, he returned, saying Parker. Timothy Lyman ran the brick kiln. are a lot of them out there. West Glover was the best place he’d found to Several homes occupied the area as well. John As part of the camp this year, Ms. Day is grow his crops. He bought 160 acres for a dollar Boardman and Charles Cutler were engaged to teaching the kids the history of the church, apiece. His house was not in the settlement build the 38-by-44-foot church, which was simply (Continued on page 7B.) IN THIS WEEKLY SECTION, YOU’LL FIND: BIRTHS l WEDDINGS/ENGAGEMENTS l OBITUARIES l KINGDOM CALENDAR l CLASSIFIED ADS l RESTAURANTS & ENTERTAINMENT l REAL ESTATE & AUCTIONS l YOURS FROM THE PERIMETER l RUMINATIONS l AND MORE! Page 2B the Chronicle, July 5, 2017 Ruminations Custard ice cream: it’s fun to make, too by Joseph Gresser some kind of solution that acts like the ice-rock salt mixture. This column might seem like a On the upper end of the bad joke given our recent weather, spectrum are machines that relieve but trust me, we’ll have summer one of the drudgery of cranking the one day. Maybe we’ll just have one machine — although that is a great day of summer. Either way, it’s way to use up the excess energy of essential to be prepared. children. Some even have their own One of my parents’ older friends refrigeration units. told a story about a trip to his In fact, it is possible to make ice family’s summer home in Maine cream without anything more than during the 1920s. Apparently his a shallow bowl and a freezer, but folks were very wealthy, so the the results are not as spectacular. whole crew piled into some kind of The idea is to pour the cooled, huge, fancy car driven by their flavored custard base into the bowl chauffeur. and put it in the freezer. Every so Roads being what they were in often take it out and whip the those days, it was a long trip in a mixture with a fork. hot automobile. When they arrived That won’t get as much air into his mother jumped out of the car the mixture as an ice cream and scampered into the summer machine will, but you won’t be house, emerging with ice cream without ice cream, either. cones overflowing with gleaming As you may have gathered by white scoops.