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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Nathaniel Hitchcock (1812-1900) made this sketch from memory of the Fourth Meeting House in Deerfield, Massachusetts, when he was eighteen years old. The meetinghouse was built in 1729 and served both town and religious purposes. The town remodeled the building in 1768. A weathervane in the form of a rooster topped the steeple at the north end with a bell tower and clock. This replaced the old center steeple. The building was painted a dark stone color with white window frames and dark brown doors, and a new double door was added. Meetinghouses, usually the largest buildings in town, often occupied the highest point of land so that they could be seen from a distance and act as landmarks for travelers.

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