The Church
Further up the Ridge stands the Congregational Church. The origins of the church extend back beyond the settlement to Rowley, Mass. when Deacon Maximilian Jewett and forty other Puritan emigrants from England sought religious freedom in the New World. Like most other settlers of the day the Coburn and Jewett families were devoutly religious, having what one writer of the day described as a strong sense of an overall Providence guiding the people of the wilderness of New Brunswick as He guided the children of Israel. Each day began and ended with daily devotions.
From the days of the earliest settlement the people on the Ridge had dreamed of a Meeting-house. In 1826 a church building was erected Fulfilling that dream. Under the leadership of Rev. Archibald McCullum the farmers build a church by August of that year. It stood on the opposite side of the road from the present church. The first trustees of the congregation were; Jeremiah Cristy, Samuel Clark, James Miles, James Pickard, and J. B. Jewett. The deacons were Jacob Jewett, Joseph Pickard, Samuel Clark, John Key, Peter Cristy, Sammuel Burpee, William Long and Thomas Coburn.
In 1875 the building was replaced by a new and larger church across the road. Fund raising projects such as teas and sacred concerts raised money for such endeavours. One such event is described in an old handbill.
