Tag Archives: Town Hill Church

The Town Hill Church, now a Memorial Park with organized around the church foundation and bell, had only four ministers.

Reverend Jonathan Marsh: 1739-1795

Reverend Edward D. Griffin: 1795-1801

Reverend Amasa Jerome: 1802-1813

Reverend Cyrus Yale: 1814-1854

The first church building was raised in the 1740’s; it was replaced in 1829 with another church, also in a classic New England Congregational Style. Following the decision to establish churches in Nepaug and the North Village, (both of which had larger populations due to the manufacturing interests in those villages) the church was disbanded.  The farming population had also moved away for the most part, much of the pasturage of Town Hill was being used for charcoal or pasturage. The building stood vacant from 1854, aside from the rare memorial or anniversary service, until 1929.  It earned notoriety in 1911, when the steeple toppled: it flipped backwards and came through the roof, intact.  The church then became known as the “Church that Stabbed Itself.”  In 1929, the church was taken down.  In the 1930’s the land was turned into a Memorial Park, owned by the town.