The First Congregational Church of Wiscasset was founded 250 years ago on Aug. 6, 1773. As part of the 250th celebration, the church is offering weekly historical snippets about the church and its early years. The celebration will culminate in a weekend of events including an organ concert by Joel Pierce at 2 p.m. Saturday Sept. 9 followed by a tea, and a celebration Sunday church service at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 followed by a reception. Visitors are welcome at all weekend events. Please visit this historic church any Sunday, at 28 High St., Wiscasset. For more information, phone the church office at 882-7544.  

We hope you enjoy the following historical article.   

Early Church Pews 

In 1792, the parish had voted to sell pews on the lower floor of the church in order to finance a steeple and bell for the church. In 1771, however, the town meeting voted to “pew” the Meeting House with 44 pews, which would be sold at auction to the highest bidder. Only those living within what are the present town limits and paying property taxes were allowed to own a pew, and no one could bid for more than one pew; 43 pews were sold, with #37 reserved for the minister, his family, and guests. The next year, 18 more pews were sold in the gallery. Each pew owner was a shareholder in church property. The total amount raised from the pew sales was 320 pounds. A motion was made at the 1772 town meeting that a portion of this money be used to paint the exterior of the meeting house, but that was voted down. At an 1821 town meeting, a vote was taken to see if the parish would assess a tax on the pews for the purpose of repairing the meeting house, but the vote is not recorded. 

There were three galleries in the upstairs, containing two tiers of pews with a walkway between them. The eastern balcony, or singing gallery, faced the pulpit, while the gallery wings were reserved for “strangers, seamen, penniless worshipers, and unruly boys.” The pulpit was an elevated, three-sided structure, with another elevated seat below it for deacons. Between the pulpit and the Deacons’ seat was a square pew reserved for the aged and “those thick of hearing.” 

Prices for pews differed by location, with the center sections, and the middle pews of these sections being the most expensive. The prices ranged from $25 to $105 in 1840. 

When taxes on the pews were unpaid, the pews were once again offered at auction, and a list from 1835 shows 18 pews on the lower floor and another 9 in the galleries that were being auctioned off if the taxes remained unpaid. Members of the Parish were summoned to a meeting in January of 1835 to “see what measures the Parish will take relative to certain Pews in said meeting house on which taxes are now due for one or more years that no person appears to pay and which have been offered for sale and no person appears to purchase.” It seems that pews were not always in great demand!