It may be sound advice in the 21st century, but hardly applies to colonial times when Connecticut settlers founded the Wyoming Valley .

Those colonists viewed the discussion of religion and politics as fundamental to the success and prosperity of their community and created an institution strictly for that purpose — the meetinghouse.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Forty Fort Meeting House, a National Historic Landmark. Betsy Condron, chairwoman of the bicentennial committee, said the structure is the “oldest existing house of worship not only in the Wyoming Valley , but throughout Northeast Pennsylvania .”

Bicentennial Week is set for Sept. 30 through Oct. 6 and includes an old-fashioned vesper service, an art show, living history, special tours with guides in period costume and much more.

The Forty Fort Cemetery Association, which maintains the Meeting House, is making the dual focus of the celebration a $300,000 endowment initiative to preserve the historic landmark and an educational initiative to teach the public about the important role the building played in the settlement of the Wyoming Valley .

“We hope to generate a lot of interest among the schools,” said Condron, “especially the middle schools where local history is a required part of the curriculum. If we can get the children interested in the history of the Wyoming Valley , we have a better chance of insuring that important historic sites like the Meeting House will be preserved for future generations.”

The origins of the Forty Fort Meeting House are rooted in colonial New England where members of the local community gathered inside such plain wooden structures twice on Sunday to worship and during the midweek to discuss community affairs and elect local officials.

They were God-fearing Calvinists who believed in the predestination of humans to heaven or hell. Hoping to be among the former, they worked hard and acted piously, expecting that God would reward them with earthly posterity and salvation in an afterlife.

They also believed in participatory government. Specifically, that local government was the most effective form of preserving the interests and addressing the needs of the community.

The unique combination of democratic participation and hierarchical authority was best represented by the meetinghouse and formed the worldview of these Connecticut Yankees.

Predictably, members of Connecticut ’s Susquehanna Land Co., sought to transplant the meetinghouse to Northeastern Pennsylvania when, in 1769, they arrived in the Wyoming Valley to establish a permanent settlement.

But these “First Forty” settlers were forced to postpone their plans when they discovered that the region was occupied by Pennsylvania colonists.

The so-called “Pennamites” insisted that they held title to the land under the 1681 charter granted to William Penn by King Charles II of England . Their claim refuted an earlier 1662 charter the king granted to Connecticut .

Subsequent clashes between the two groups resulted in a series of bloody confrontations known to history as the “Yankee-Pennamite Wars.”

A brief peace was established during the American Revolution, when the two factions put aside their differences to unite in the struggle for independence from Great Britain .

But the Yankee-Pennamite wars resumed afterwards, lasting until 1799 when the Pennsylvania legislature secured a resolution with the Connecticut claimants.

With peace restored, the Connecticut settlers of Kingston (later renamed “Forty Fort” after the first 40 Yankee settlers who arrived in 1769) turned their attentions to establishing a house of worship.

By 1800, the Wyoming Valley had become a polyglot of Protestant Christianity.

Congregationalists (Calvinists who later became Presbyterians), Episcopalians and Methodists comprised the religious landscape. Denominational differences were not as important as the practical consideration of building a place of worship.

In spring 1806, subscriptions were raised to build a meetinghouse. By end of the next summer, a timber frame structure had been elevated and the interior was finished during the following winter.

Originally known as the Union Chapel because it served as a house of worship for Congregationalists and Methodists, the Meeting House was designed by Joseph Hitchcock, an architect and builder from New Haven, Conn.

“The Meeting House is a fine example of Yankee Colonial architecture,” said Condron. “It has a symmetrical design that can be seen both outside and inside the structure.”

The exterior features 29 double-hung sash windows arranged in two tiers directly over each other on each of the four sides. Each window has 24 panes of glass.

On the north side of the building is an elegant palladium window, strategically placed to furnish light for the pulpit located on the inside of the wall. A five-paneled double door is centered on the south side, providing entry into the structure.

Inside, the visitor feels as if he’s been transported back to the 18th century. The handcrafted pine interior has never been painted. Normally light in color, the pine has darkened with age.

The focal point of the interior is a highly elevated pulpit directly opposite the entrance.

From here, such early ministers as Ard Hoyt, Cyrus Gildersleeve, Nicholas Murray and E. Hazard Snowden delivered their sermons to devout congregations.

Conspicuously absent are an altar,

baptismal font and religious statuary. The only suggestion of a crucifix is the simple cross motif formed by the rails and styles of the wood paneling that compose the pulpit. The absence of these features is a reminder of the primitive as well as ecumenical nature of religion in the early Wyoming Valley .

Enclosed pine pews are located on either side of the Meeting House. They were reserved for the most prominent families of the community — the Dorrances, Hoyts, Denisons, Swetlands and Shoemakers — while the less renowned congregants worshipped on the wood-framed balcony above.

The Forty Fort Meeting House served as a place of worship until 1837 when the Presbyterians and Methodists built their own churches. Afterwards, the building and the adjoining cemetery were largely neglected.

Not until 1860, when the Forty Fort Cemetery Association was established, was there a concern for the stewardship of the historic site. At that time, William Swetland, the association’s first president, replaced the roof, painted the exterior and repaired the fence.

Over the next 130 years, only cosmetic repairs were made to the exterior.

The escalating cost of historic preservation made it extremely difficult for structural repairs that inevitably occur in centuries-old buildings.

In the early 1990s, Mrs. Lindsay Coon Robinson, then president of the Cemetery Association, became concerned about the ongoing deterioration of the Meeting House. She established a preservation committee to raise the money needed to maintain the historic structure.

Today, the preservation committee, headed by Lillian Smith, faces its most daunting challenge — to raise a $300,000 endowment that will help pay for extensive structural repairs to the Meeting House that have occurred naturally due to the “settling” of the building over many decades of time.

Rotted wooden piers that support the foundation must be replaced with concrete. The supporting cross beams of the roof must be reinforced. Brick chimneys need to be rebuilt, repointed and reinforced with a structural steel frame that spans the height of the attic. Extensive repairs also need to be done on exterior woodwork, window frames and shutters, entrance door and stoop and gutters.

“If we are going to succeed in this effort, we need ongoing public support,” said Smith. “Old buildings require constant preservation and that, in turn, requires financial stewardship. We are fortunate that the Meeting House is still here. Had it not been located in the cemetery, it probably would have been razed years ago. We owe it to the past and to future generations to preserve this historic treasure.”

Currently, the Cemetery Association has received funding from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and several local funding sources, including the Bergman Foundation, the Marquis-McDonald Foundation, the Dorothy Darte Darling Foundation and Celebrity Luncheon of Wilkes-Barre Scranton.

Public donations have also been received. But ongoing public support will be necessary if the $300,000 endowment goal is to be achieved.

The Forty Fort Meeting House stands as a legacy to the spiritual fortitude, fierce determination and moral courage of the Connecticut Yankees who settled the area.

But unless our community continues to preserve the irreplaceable structures of the past, there will be very little for posterity on which to build a future.

William Kashatus teaches history at Luzerne County Community College . He can be contacted at bkashatus@luzerne.edu.

©The Citizens' Voice 2007

George Peck
Memorial
founder of
Wyoming Seminary

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