St. John’s Episcopal Church, Guilford (1814)

St. John's Episcopal Church, Guilford

Meeting House Hill in North Guilford is noted for the impressive view of its two early-nineteenth-century churches: the North Guilford Congregational Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church. The latter, located at 129 Ledge Hill Road, was built in 1812-1814 in the Federal style. The church was originally founded by members who had left the North Congregational Church in 1747, building their first small meeting house south of the hill in 1754. By 1812 they had developed a solid relationship with their neighboring church, which donated land for them to to build a new church on Meeting House Hill. The top section of the original steeple was removed and replaced with a belfry in 1843. The interior was remodeled and the chancel, sacristy, and vestry were added in 1870. Around the same time, Gothic arches were added to the windows as well. The belfry was repaired after being struck by lightning in 1890. Originally standing on large stones, the church did not acquire a permanent foundation until the 1950s. A rear addition added in 1972.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, North Haven (1834)

St. John's Episcopal Church, North Haven

The cornerstone for St. John’s Episcopal Church, at the northeast corner of the Green (current address: 3 Trumbull Place) in North Haven, was laid in 1834. Episcopalians in the town first gathered to organize their own Episcopal church in 1759. The current Gothic Revival church was preceded by a wooden church, without a steeple, dedicated on the same site on St. John’s Day, December 27, 1761.

Christ Episcopal Church, Roxbury (1807)

Christ Episcopal Church, Roxbury

An Episcopal parish, believed to be the oldest in Litchfield County, was organized in Roxbury in 1740. The first Episcopal church building in Roxbury was built soon after (certainly by 1763 and perhaps as early as the 1740s). That church, which does not survive today, was located on “Old Roxbury Road” near the junction with “Lower Country Road.” The current church building, at 4 Weller’s Bridge Road, was erected in 1807. It took the name Christ Church in 1841. Its current Carpenter Gothic style dates to 1861, when the structure was rotated from its original eastward facing position to face south and was completely renovated.

Grace Episcopal Church, Yantic (1902)

Grace Episcopal Church

The mill village of Yantic in Norwich was home to the Yantic Woolen Company Mill. In 1824 Erastus Williams purchased a preexisting mill and enlarged it to produce woolen products. He and his wife, Elizabeth Dorr Tracy, oversaw the organization of Grace Episcopal Church in Yantic in 1853. Their daughter Elizabeth was the first church organist. Erastus was succeeded by his son and then by his grandson, Winslow Tracy Williams. Under the latter’s administration a new Grace Episcopal Church was erected. It was dedicated in 1902.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Northford (1940)

St. Andrew's Episcopal Church

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Parish in Northford was first organized in 1763 and their first church was consecrated by Bishop Thomas Church Brownell in 1822. A new edifice was built in 1845 and the original building was sold and probably used as a hay barn. The second church burned in 1938. Ground was broken for a new church on October 1, 1939 and the building was dedicated on November 10, 1940. The new building, at the same location as its predecessor (1382 Middletown Avenue) was designed by Alfred W. Boylen of New Haven to resemble the 1845 church, with a simple Gothic interior. The present rectory was built in 1957 and the parish house in 1965.

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Washington (1917)

St. John's Episcopal Church

Episcopalian families in Washington (then called Judea and part of the town of Washington) built their first church in 1794. Dedicated to St. John, the building was moved in 1815 from Davies Hollow to the Green Hill area, which had developed as the town center. Construction of the current stone church (78 Green Hill Road) began in 1917 and the first service was held on Easter, 1918. The church was designed by architect Ehrick K. Rossiter, who is famed for the many houses he designed in the Washington area.