A presentation by the
Westport Historical Society. Back to
Community Events Home Page
One of
Westport’s most enduring structures, erected on the farmlands that slope into
the sea in Westport Harbor, is the Acoaxet Chapel. If you’re not on the lookout
for it, you might miss the compact little building tucked into one of the first
lots on Howland Road.
The
Westport Historical Society focused a spotlight on the chapel with its July 19
presentation, “A History of the Acoaxet Chapel.” Reverend Robert Hollis,
standing at a rostrum from which other pastors in the chapel’s unique history
have preached to their flocks, harkened back to the 1840s to begin charting the
story of the building and the community that erected it.
The history
of the Acoaxet Chapel is a story of Yankee thrift, practicality, and
resoluteness. It is veined with an uncommon sense of inclusion that far
predates the contemporary sense of ecumenism. It also reveals the sustaining
importance of the church in the lives of the farmers and businessmen who made
up Westport Harbor’s population.
Farm
families in the Harbor began meeting in each other’s homes for prayer, singing,
and religious instruction in the 1840s. Over time, sentiment grew for having a
formal meeting place. In January 1872, with the nearest church four miles
distant, Frank Howland spearheaded a successful effort to build a local chapel.
One of the group’s first acts
was to
form the “Free Chapel Association”; all in attendance became members. They
wrote a constitution and ratified it.
By the time
they broke ground on January 23, 1872, two things were abundantly clear to
them. First, they would pay cash for everything and avoid debt by raising money
within their own community.
Second,
they decided unanimously that the chapel would be “held in trust for the free
use of all Protestant denominations for the worship of God and for moral and
religious instruction” for the community.
“That. I
believe, is what makes the Acoaxet Chapel different than almost any chapel or
church built in New England,” Reverend Hollis said. “The people in the harbor
said that anyone who wants to use it as a church can come use it free, without
charge. What an incredible statement on that first meeting night January 10,
1872.”
The
founding group included Quakers, Baptists, and Congregationalists. They
practiced what they preached.
Over the
next ten years, the members voted to add a chimney, stoves for heat and
kerosene lamps for illumination. In 1882, one year after members voted to erect
a closed-in shed to protect horses and carriages in inclement weather, disaster
struck. A fire was set by “a miscreant,
who was pursued but never found, at least by the legal authority.”
The chapel
played a vital role in their social and spiritual lives. They would not abide
living without the nexus it provided. They set their jaws and built another
chapel upon the ashes of the first - in less than one year - and added a belfry
to the building.
Hardly a
month would pass without functions and events being conducted at Acoaxet
Chapel. Walter Elwell, one of three long-time chapel
members who participated in the evening’s program, reminisced about chapel
goings on in the 1940s through 1960s. Mr. Elwell
recalled the days preceding September’s Harvest Sunday and Auction Monday. Mr. Elwell watched his grandmother spend two days cooking
corned beef, hand chopping it in a wooden bowl, then pressing it so it could be
cold sliced at Sunday night’s supper.
Elwell’s
father was in charge of Auction Monday, a highly anticipated annual
fund-raiser. Families brought produce and foodstuffs from their farms and
gardens, filling the chapel with goods to be auctioned off. The proceeds of the
auction, conducted by Everett Coggeshall, supported
the chapel financially and gave families a head start on stockpiling food for
the winter.
“There were
very few houses around, you could count them on your fingers,” Gladys Corey
said of growing up in the neighborhood.
She got a laugh from the audience when she recalled getting tired on one
of her youthful excursions and deciding to take a nap in one of the sand traps
on the golf course near her house. A frantic search ensued. A neighbor found
her and carried her, still slumbering, back home.
Ralph Bodington’s main memories from the 1970s to the 1990s
centered around food. After cooking beans for Sunday
suppers became too much for Mrs. Marian Gifford of Little Compton, young Ralph
offered to help. Twenty-five years later, he’s still the man in the chapel
kitchen at 4:30 am preparing beans for the Saturday Ham and Bean Suppers. The
chapel offers more than comfort for the belly. “The chapel offers a refuge, a
place for peace in a world that can use more of them,” he said.
Finances
and food took up a good deal of the content of the minutes (recorded since
1872) of the chapel’s annual meetings. They might have written how pleased they
were to have made $50 “but they did understand that the money raised wasn’t the
most important part. It was the work they could do with it. Above all, it was
the fellowship they encountered here and the joy they had with the community
coming together,” Reverend Hollis said.
After
spending a few quiet moments in the simple, elegantly designed chapel, a
visitor familiar with its history can imagine the echoes of farmers’ boots
entering for Sunday services. Until this year, the chapel was open from Easter
to the last Sunday in September. Reverend Hollis announced that the Acoaxet
Chapel would be open year round beginning this October.
The
legendary ham, bean, and brown bread suppers live on. The next are scheduled
for August 18 and September 15 at the Acoaxet Chapel on 26 Howland Road.
SIDEBAR
Special
services that have been held at Acoaxet Chapel through the years:
* Christmas
Tree Decoration
* Christmas
Eve services
Easter
Thanksgiving
Harvest
Sunday, Auction Monday
Washington’s
Birthday
* Memorial
Day
July 4
Mothers Day
Father and
Sons Day
* Oddfellows and Rebeccas
* Grange
Sunday
Fanny
Crosby Sunday
Freemason
Sunday
Missionary
Sunday
* Music
Sunday
* still on annual calendar
Suppers
played a dual role of raising money and providing fellowship at the Chapel.
Box Suppers
Cold meat
and strawberry suppers
Ice cream
festivals
Men’s
Turkey Supper
Cold Meat
and salad supper
Fish/quahog
suppers
Harvest
Suppers
Oyster
suppers
* Ham and
bean suppers
* still going strong
- - - - - - End - - - - - -