Clockwise from far left: Recent photo of autumn snow by Julie McGowan. Aerial photo by Jerry Trudell. The church circa 1900. Courtesy of Glenn Skillin. Bell tower photo by Meredith Schuft. Wedding photo by Todd Stoilov. Bottom left: A view circa 1900. Courtesy of Linda Andrews.
Upcoming Bicentennial Celebration Concerts June 28 Classical Music Night with ty Susan Summerfield, Laura Markowitz, and John Dunlop at the Old Round Church, 7pm. July 26 Stars of the Future: Youth solo performers at the Old Round Church, 7pm. August 9 Street party on the Round Church Green: Community Band at 6pm; country rock music with Phil ’n The Blanks at 7pm. August 10
sermon, Rev. Daniel Haskel, who would later become president of the University of Vermont, praised the people of Richmond who “being greatly divided in their religious opinions, deserve credit for the harmony and spirit with which they have undertaken and completed the building.”
So Why the Round Design? The man chosen to act as contractor for the project was William Rhodes, a Richmond carpenter and blacksmith who had built a number of homes and covered bridges in the area. As it happened, Rhodes’s parents lived in Claremont, New Hampshire, where a half-round extension
had been added to the town’s rectangular meetinghouse in 1807. Rhodes may have seen a similar structure in Concord, the Granite State’s capital, and decided to take the multisided design to full circle. Tradition speculates the purpose of the round design was to keep the devil from hiding in the corners or to preclude enemies on the outside from hiding just around the corner. Whatever the reason, the circular pattern enables those sitting in the simple wooden pews to feel surrounded by community. No one knows the building better than Gary Bressor, a Richmond resident who remembers his mother scrubbing down
Music on the Round Church Green: Longford Row, Calloway Taxi, Burlington Irish, and others. All day, beginning at 11am. August 11 Annual Pilgrimage 10am Closing Ceremony 2pm These bicentennial concerts are open to the public with a suggested donation of $5. Proceeds go to the Round Church Bicentennial Fund. For more information, please e-mail rhs@richmondroundchurch.com.
Summer 2013 / Best of Burlington
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