Historic South Duxbury Church put back in use at pre-Memorial Day ceremony
May 27, 2023 | By Lisa Scagliotti UPDATE: This post was updated with additional photos on May 29.
The third Saturday in May proved to be perfect timing for a pre-Memorial Day ceremony in Duxbury to both honor military service veterans and gather at the South Duxbury Church for the first time since the Duxbury Historical Society acquired the property as its new home.
Approximately 50 people from Duxbury, Waterbury and Moretown were in attendance on May 20 for the event that began in the wood-frame church that sits directly across Vermont Route 100 from Harwood Union High School. It ended with a visit across the street at the South Duxbury Cemetery’s Veterans Memorial.
Saturday’s program included “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” played by Ken Spencer on the church pump organ.
Skip Flanders, who grew up and lives in Waterbury but who has multi-generation family roots in Duxbury, is an active member of the Duxbury Historical Society. He shared a history of the church and the role it has played in the community since it was built in 1855.
Members of six different denominations pitched in to finance the construction at the time. Eventually, the Congregational Church was the last group to use it. On Aug. 18, 1957, the community held a rededication ceremony after renovations that included reconstruction of the church steeple and reshingling some of the roof.
The South Duxbury Church sits across Route 100 from Harwood Union Middle/High School. Photo by Gordon Miller
Most recently, the Duxbury Historical Society in November took title to the property that includes the adjacent Sunshine Hall after purchasing it for an undisclosed price from the Christ the King Church Conference.
The historical society has had the property surveyed and its two buildings inspected to determine what renovations and improvements are needed today in order for the structures to be used by the society and the community. Some priorities are to upgrade electrical systems and add bathroom facilities to the church hall. Efforts to fundraise and plan those projects will be ongoing this year.
Inspired by a past rededication
Skip Flanders shares details of the church’s history. Photo by Gordon Miller
In his remarks at last Saturday’s ceremony, Flanders drew on the 1957 rededication that featured as its speaker Rev. Leslie T. Pennington, a pastor in Chicago who purchased a Dowsville property for a summer home in 1936. While in Vermont, he would serve as a guest minister in many communities, Flanders said, filling in for local clergy who were on vacation.
Pennington, who died in 1975, saved his sermon from the 1957 event, and Flanders shared excerpts. Pennington praised the work done to refurbish the church: “Our Meeting House is again on the way toward becoming the adequate spiritual symbol, the place of worship for persons of all denominations, and religious center of this community, as it was intended to be by those who built it just 102 years ago.”
Flanders quoted Pennington who pointed to the poet T. S. Eliot, “who said that he became what he is today, not by rejecting his past, but by assimilating it into his living present. This is true of the community of our common life. More than we realize, we are what we are as a community because of our history. And our highest fulfillment as a community comes by gathering the experiences and wisdom of history into our living present. It is this which gives us poise, perspective and a sense of the worth and direction of our life, both as persons and a community. In knowing our own history we discover what we really are.”
Flanders said he thought Pennington in speaking at the South Duxbury Church foreshadowed the property’s future as it now is the focus of a renewed effort to preserve and maintain it.
Click to enlarge photos below and see captions.
Pastor Sam Newton of the Wesley United Methodist Church in Waterbury offered a Memorial Day message during the program as well. Newton’s grandmother was a local pastor in Moretown in the 1950s and had occasion to attend services in the South Duxbury Church, Flanders noted.
Over its history, the meeting house was a gathering place for residents in South Duxbury and Moretown, Flanders said. Its original builder, Samuel Cook Turner lived on Turner Hill where he and his wife Almira Munson raised 10 children. Many of their descendants live in the area today, Flanders remarked, noting that his own ancestor was Lyman Cook Turner, oldest brother to Samuel. The man who repaired the steeple in 1957, Cecil Percy, was another Turner descendant as well.
Flanders closed his remembrance of Pennington with an excerpt from the eulogy at Pennington’s funeral in 1975: “Leslie was gifted with an interest in every aspect of life. He loves his farm in Moretown, and the green hills of Vermont. His retirement years were spent working in his garden among the flowers he loved, and watching the birds crowd his feeders. Leslie lived in covenant not only with God and men but also with nature.”
Although Duxbury resident Don Welch was not in attendance, Flanders extended a special thanks to the longtime Duxbury Historical Society president who recently stepped down. It was under Welch’s leadership that the organization acquired the church and adjacent hall. “We extended our appreciation to Donnie Welch for his efforts in sharing and preserving Duxbury history and his leadership leading us to the program in the South Duxbury Church today,” Flanders said. “Thank you from all of us, Donnie.”
Willie Docto plays ‘Ashokan Farewell,’ a piece written in 1982 which has come to be associated with the Civil War era. Photo by Gordon Miller
The program at the church came to a close with a musical performance by historical society member Willie Docto. An owner of Moose Meadow Lodge in Duxbury, Docto is a violinist with the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra. He played the American folk classic, “Ashokan Farewell” made famous by “The Civil War” PBS documentary by Ken Burns.
“He held us kind of spellbound,” Flanders said of Docto’s playing which was met with rousing applause from the crowd.
A closing prayer also borrowed from the 1957 ceremony ended the service.
The gathering then moved across Rt. 100 to the South Duxbury Cemetery and the Veterans Monument there. Pastor Marie MacDougall of the Moretown Methodist Church and Mark Morse from the historical society offered remarks. Chris Magnani, vice president of the Duxbury Historical Society, along with Moretown Historical Society President Denise Gabaree laid a wreath at the monument. Members of the American Legion Post #59 in Waterbury took part as well.
Organizers were pleased with the turnout and the program. “It seemed like a magical day,” Flanders said afterward.
The Duxbury Veterans Memorial is decorated at South Duxbury Cemetery. Photo by Shawnee Perry
Postscript
Duxbury Historical Society member Shawnee Perry attended the ceremony and assembled photographs into a slideshow set to a recording of “Ashokan Farewell” by acclaimed folk music duo Jay Ungar and Molly Mason of Fiddle Fever. A classic since documentary filmmaker Ken Burns used it as the main theme for his PBS series, “The Civil War,” it was played by Willie Docto on violin at the Saturday event. Perry's slideshow with the Ungar-Mason recording can be viewed on YouTube.
Waterbury’s Memorial Day ceremony | May 29 | 11 am
Waterbury’s Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 29, with the American Legion Post 59, Waterbury, VT and the Waterbury Historical Society happens in *Duxbury* at Holy Cross Cemetery starting at 11 a.m. More details in this post in the Community section.