The Warren Congregational Church in Warren, CT (built in 1818) has a steeple, exterior and interior that seems nearly identical to what we have here at Avon Congregational Church. The high pulpit configuration in Warren gives us a look at how ACC might have looked. It’s surprising to think we may have had a pulpit like this. Nora Howard, our church historian, has found just one reference to it.
Frank Hadsell (1858-1949), an ACC church goer, wrote in his diary later in his life that “at the north end [of the meetinghouse] was the high old fashioned pulpit, now discarded. At the south or front end, over the vestibule, were the seats for the choir. Now the pulpit was not as high as the choir seats, but high enough for the minister to see the singers very well.”