Rufus PorterMuseum/Nathan Church House Move, November 02, 2016

And, it was a complete success!

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Nathan Church House: A Brief History

by Caroline D. Grimm

Reverend Nathan Church was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts in 1754, the son of Benjamin Church and Ruth Kellogg. He married Huldah Cleaves, the daughter of Joshua Cleaves and Huldah Perley in 1788. Huldah Perley was the sister of Enoch Perley, one of Bridgton’s most influential early settlers, and Mary Perley Peabody, wife of Lt. John Peabody. The first church in Bridgton generally met at Lt. Peabody’s house in South Bridgton. In 1789, Nathan Church was called to be the first settled minister in Bridgton. He was also the leading spirit behind the formation of the first library in Bridgton, and served as first president of the trustees of Bridgton Academy.

In the complicated genealogy of early Bridgton families (and their Massachusetts cohorts), there are close ties between the Perley, Peabody, Putnam, Porter, and Cleaves families. The families knew each other for many generations both in Massachusetts and then in the settlements of Maine. The existence of Rufus Porter murals in Nathan Church’s house is therefore not surprising. In a small, tight knit family-based community, Rufus Porter was at the least a known person, and most likely had family ties to the Church/Cleaves household.

The Nathan Church house was originally located on South High Street. It was later moved to the foot of Highland Lake, then called Crotched Pond, before being moved to its current location on North High Street.

Source: History of Bridgton, Maine - Bridgton Historical Society

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Photo Chronicle of the Move

By Michael Corthell, de Luxx Light Photography

(Click on photo to enlarge)