Old Ship Church

This article is about the Old Ship Meetinghouse in Massachusetts. For the church in Alabama, see Old Ship African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
See also: List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts and Oldest buildings in the United States

Old Ship Church
(Old Ship Meetinghouse)
Old Ship Church
Old Ship Church is located in Massachusetts
Old Ship Church
Old Ship Church is located in the United States
Old Ship Church
LocationMain Street
Hingham, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°14′29″N 70°53′13″W / 42.24125°N 70.88695°W / 42.24125; -70.88695
Built1681
Part ofLincoln Historic District (ID90001728)
NRHP reference No.66000777 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966
Designated NHLOctober 9, 1960
Designated CPJanuary 7, 1991

The Old Ship Church (also known as the Old Ship Meetinghouse) is a Puritan church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in the United States. Its congregation, gathered in 1635 and officially known as First Parish in Hingham, occupies the oldest church building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the country. On October 9, 1960, it was designated a National Historic Landmark, and on November 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[2][3]

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 more familiar delicately spired white Colonial churches of New England would not be built for more than half a century." Within the church, "the ceiling, made of great oak beams, looks like the inverted frame of a ship", notes The Washington Post. "Built in 1681, it is the oldest church in continuous use as a house of worship in North America."[4]

The most distinctive feature of the structure is its hammerbeam roof, a Gothic open timber construction, the most well-known example being that of Westminster Hall. Some of those working on the soaring structure were no doubt ship carpenters; others were East Anglians familiar with the method of constructing a hammerbeam roof.

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ Old Ship Church, National Park Service.
  3. ^ Butterfield, Fox (May 14, 1989). "The Perfect New England Village". The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  4. ^ Lindner, Lawrence (April 20, 2007). "Classic New England: Five for the Road". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 13, 2014.