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Our Historic Church is open for
self-guided tours on Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Arrangements for group tours can
also be made.
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A Tour of Unity Church
by Richard Hill
Our Historic Church is open for self-guided tours on
Wednesdays from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Just stop by the church office to
let us know you'd like to visit the church. Or,
contact us ahead of time to schedule a group tour. If you would like a
tour guide, we can usually arrange that as well. Pamphlets are provided
for self-guided tours at the church, or download and print
the pamphlet before you come.
Built in 1875 at a cost of $100,000, Unity Church was designed by
Gothic Revivalist John Ames Mitchell (1845-1918), nephew of donor, Oliver
Ames (1807-1877). and donated to the Unitarian Society of North Easton in
1875. Historian and first Unity Church Minister, William Chaffin wrote,
"the stone, a native seinite was quarried a few hundred feet south of the
church, the rear walls, a hard dark trap rock taken from a dike near the
quarry." Rarely mentioned in church descriptions is the extensive use of
the quatrefoil which seems to be a prominent motif appearing in the steeple, the
truss work, the doors and windows. It surmounts the steeple and is carved into
the walls. It focuses a central window and adorns every pew. The exterior with its tall, graceful spire presents a multitude of faces.
From the south, the rose window and porte cochere lend an upward lift. The
rather horizontal view from the back still leads the eye aloft to the multi
shaped slate and the iron tracery atop the roof. A view from the north places
one in a land of make believe with the pagoda like cupola balancing the mass of
the sanctuary.
The neighboring parsonage. now officially "The Holly House" in
honor of retired minister Holly Bell was designed by William Robert
Ware and Henry Van Brunt in 1878 in a Gothic Revival Style with
gingerbread like jig saw patterns. This spacious and comfortable home is now the
church office and our religious education center.
The
Village Cemetery was begun in September of 1875. It contains five acres within a
seven foot high stone wall. It is carefully laid out in drives and walks. The
eastern end with its curving walks that follow the contours of the land was
designed by Ernest W. Bowditch (1849-1918). Here
are the Washington Monument like shaft of Congressman Oakes Ames, the
weeping woman over Governor Oliver Ames, the bronze orchids of Oakes and Blanche
Ames, the St. Gaudens oak leaves around the stone of Frederick Lothrop
Ames, and the yacht and plane of his grandchildren. There are a stone tree
trunk, a trumpet, and the boulder marking Reverend William Chaffin. The
oaks, rhododendrons, lilacs, and flowering bushes surround the diverse stones.
And atop "Misery Hill," are glacial scour marks that record the
passing of the last ice age.
![unity-a8[1].jpg (31102 bytes)](unity-a81_small.jpg) William Ladd Chaffin (1837-1923) became the minister of the Unitarian
Society of North Easton on January 1, 1868 and remained until his death in 1923.
His 55 years of service to this church is longer than any minister in this
denomination has served a single parish. He was a Victorian "Renaissance
Man:" geologist, botanist, historian, biographer, author, genealogist,
educator, and theologian. His 838 page 1886 History of Easton is remarkable. A
memorial to Chaffin and his wife, Rebecca Huidekoper Chaffin is on the
right side of the church next to the door leading to the former chapel, now the
Chaffin Room in his honor. Rebecca (1840-1922) is recalled as a kindly, happy,
busy nurturing woman.
Originally heavily stenciled, with colorful walls, the front of the original
church focused on a quatrefoil window containing the white dove of peace. Above
is a large cross with an angel at its base. Angels playing musical instruments
project from the ends of the front beams. The 1875 E. and G. G. Hook and
Hastings eighteen stop pipe organ dominated the right of the church with its
brightly stenciled pipes in a black walnut case.
The church interior was redesigned in 1895 by Henry Vaughan and the ornate
frieze or pulpit screen including twenty-two oaken seraphim (Angels who play
music), a memorial to Frederick Lothrop Ames (1835-1893) was carved by
Johannes Kirchmayer (1860-1930), an artist employed by Irving and Casson and W.F.
Ross. Born in Bavaria, and educated at the University of Munich, Kirchmayer was
called "one of the most remarkable sculptors of wood..." in a 1930
Boston Globe article. His friend, architect Stanford White called him
"a big, raw boned, heavily bearded Bavarian." Other works of
Kirchmayer can be found in the Rogers Unitarian Church of Fairhaven,
Massachusetts, the Chapel at St. Paul's School in Concord, NH, All Saints Church
in Ashmont, St. Patrick's Church in New York, and the Chapel of the United
States Military Academy at West Point.
To the left of the pulpit is an arch designed by Henry Hobson Richardson
(1838-1886) holding a bust of Unity Church's donor, Oliver Ames
(1807-1877). This bust was carved by Truman Howe Bartlett, a noted sculptor of
Abraham Lincoln and instructor of modeling at MIT. Bartlett also did the bust of
Oliver Ames (1779-1863) on Oliver Street and the bust in the Ames Free Library.
![unity-a6[1].jpg (23613 bytes)](unity-a61_small.jpg)
To the left of the bust is a memorial to Oliver Ames (1779-1863),
founder of the North Easton shovel empire that financed the church and several
other buildings in town.
Directly across the transept from Oliver's bust is the memorial to his wife, Sarah
Lothrop Ames (1812-1890). This tablet is a copy of the memorial by Queen
Victoria to her uncle, the King of Hanover in the chapel of St. George's
Windsor, England. It was Sarah who endowed the music trust fund which presently
finances all of the music at Unity Church. This fund has since been improved by
Mary Ames Frothingham, Nancy Ames, Elise Ames Parker, William Parker, and David
Ames.
The transept windows are both of John LaFarge (1835-1910). The west
window, "Angel of Help", donated by Frederick Lothrop Ames
(1835-1893) was installed in 1886 in memory of Helen Angier Ames
(1836-1882) his only sister who had died suddenly at age 46. Helen had been a
pioneer and staunch supporter in the move to build a library in North Easton.
Painter, muralist, and stained glass artist LaFarge created a double design
using a background of broken glass jewels fused together and bending light from
a deep blue to a fiery yellowish white, he placed a jeweled sarcophagus rising
to heaven amidst a team of angels. Below he centered an Angel of Help emptying
her pitcher into vessels of "Need" and "Sorrow." This angel
is central to the theology of this church in its efforts to reach out to all in
need. Art historian Henri LaFarge in 1981 called this window, "my
grandfather's masterpiece." as it exploits every technological means to
artistic expression. This window was restored by Victor Rothman in memory of
David Ames in the fall of 2001.
The east window, LaFarge's largest was commissioned by botanist Oakes Ames
(1874-1950) and his cousin, the Broadway play producer, Winthrop Ames
(1870-1934) in memory of their grandfather, Congressman Oakes Ames, and
their fathers, Governor Oliver Ames and Oakes Angier Ames. Here
LaFarge has enthroned the "Figure of Wisdom," a women who he
based on a Madonna, making her human with her halo becoming the back of her
chair. The verse from Proverbs 3:15-17 surrounds the window. "Wisdom is
more precious than rubies and all the things that thou canst desire are not to
be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand and in her left riches
and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace."
The elderly gentleman, an allegorical figure for "Length of days" is
from a Donatello relief and the young warrior, an allegory of "riches and
honor" is from a Mantegna painting. The underside of the warrior's tunic is
exposed in a rich blue. "Only my grandfather would have thought of
that," remarked Henri LaFarge as he photographed the window in 1981.
This window was restored by Victor Rothman in 1998.
Memorials to two who died in World War I include that of George Shepard
(1896-1918), for whom the local American Legion post was named, first Easton boy
killed in the war and Oliver Ames (1895-1918) of the "Fighting
69th," who was killed by a sniper in France.
The memorial to the left of the church entrance is to Sarah Ames Witherell
(1814-1886), sister of the donor of the church.
The Rose Window over the south door is by Charles Connick in 1925 in
memory of Rebecca Caroline Blair Ames (1835-1893), wife of Frederick
Lothrop Ames. This window is in the Renaissance style of stained glass with
but a single layer that admits light as long as there is light in the sky. In
1925, Charles Connick wrote of his window: "The central theme of this window is the protecting and sustaining power
of divine love... In the central medallion of the "Rose Window," is the
prince of guardian spirits, the arch -angel, Raphael, leading the young Tobias,
who has a fish in his hand. This has reference to the apocryphal book in the Old
Testament called Tobit. The story tells how Tobit, a pious Jew of the tribe of
Napthali while a captive in Ninevah, fell into disfavor through some of his
customs.. He was unfortunate enough to lose his eyesight in an accident. So he
sent his son, the little Tobias to Media to recover a loan which he had made to
a compatriot there.
While his son was on the journey, he was accompanied by Arazias, really the
Archangel, Raphael. During the course of this journey, he killed a monster fish
in the Tigris, preserving his heart, liver, and gall. While in Media, he married
his cousin. During the attendant festival, he secured the loan, and the three
returned to Ninevah, where Tobit's sight was restored by means of the fish gall.
This subject has been used in art throughout the ages to represent the
Christian, the true believer, guided and guarded through his life-pilgrimage by
the angelic monitor and minister of divine mercy and protection.
"On either side of this group are the angels of spiritual sustenance,
carrying the symbols, bread and wine. As elements of the border immediately
around this central medallion, are six seraphim, red, and as many cherubim, blue
symbolizing Divine Love and Wisdom, and twelve stars for the twelve expressions
of Divine Love in the human heart. Two other groups of twelve stars in the
triangular openings of the tracery, and in the four bottom lancets echo the same
thought. An additional seraph was placed at the very top of the window in order
that there might be seven in all. This very conscious attempt to have seven is
doubtless for two reasons: first, in the attempt to bring in the sacred number
seven, which played such an important part in pre- Christian history, and
second, to to symbolize the seven gifts of the spirit, mentioned by Isaiah.
"In the cusps of the "Rose Window," are angels of praise and
prayer, the former with a lute and trumpets, and the latter carrying censers. As
I mention these instruments, I would recall to you that the third angel on the
west in the screen holds a trumpet and the fourth from the center on the east is
holding a lute.
"Occupying the lower circular openings of the tracery are kneeling
angels of devotion holding candles. In the lancets at the base of the window are
the four most important and best known archangels. From left to right facing the
window they are: St. Michael, the guardian Prince of Israel, the militant angel
symbolizing the invincible power and strength of love. He is represented here-in
with a coat of mail, with his all powerful sword and shield of justice. In the
Talmud, the traditional law of Moses, he is the bearer of the tables of the laws
to Moses.
"Next to him is St. Gabriel, the divine messenger of grace and
inspiration. His right hand is raised in blessing, his left holds a lily,
symbolic of purity and hope. Next to him is St. Raphael, the chief of the
guardian angels. He carries a purse which is referred to in the account above.
He symbolizes the protecting and healing power of love.
"In the lower right hand corner is St. Uriel, bearing the seal of light
and wisdom."
The rose window is by Charles Connick of Boston set in 1924. The Divine Love
of God is the theme of this singled layered bluish glass that is visible as long
as light remains in the sky. The four arch angels of the Apocrypha are depicted
at the base and Uriel is in the center with young Tobias and his fish. |