NMAR Exhibit Team Visits Religious Structures

As we continue design work on the traveling exhibit that will curate the history of religious freedom in America by exploring the religious architecture of minority religions, the team visited some of the religious structures that will be featured. 

"Old Ship Church is a vibrant Unitarian Universalist congregation that dates back to its Puritan roots from 1635." It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in the United States. We attended a Sunday Service, and the congregation was extremely welcoming, even providing us with a tour of the building and recounting stories of their stewardship of the Church, the Bell Tower, and the cemetery grounds. Walking into the church felt like stepping back in time. Old Ship Church is, according to The New York Times, "the oldest continuously worshiped-in church in North America and the only surviving example in this country of the English Gothic style of the 17th century..." The interior of the church is a Gothic open-timber construction, resembling the shape and ribs of a ship's hull, and smelling of centuries-old wood. Colleen got to ring the bell at the beginning of service.

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