Founded in 1755, the First Congregational Church of Rockport traces its origins to Ebenezer Cleveland, a founder and first pastor who had served as a field chaplain in the French and Indian wars and also founded Dartmouth College. Its present sanctuary began as the Sandy Bay Parish meetinghouse, built in 1804. On Sept. 8, 1814, during the War of 1812, the British frigate Nymph launched a barge to invade Sandy Bay; when the meetinghouse bell sounded the alarm, the crew fired at the bell to silence it, but the shot missed the steeple and instead went through the bottom of the barge, sinking it. After Sandy Bay became the Town of Rockport in 1840, the meetinghouse was redecorated and the steeple enlarged to support a larger bell, and around this time fishermen gave it the nickname “The Old Sloop.” The Massachusetts General Court released the meetinghouse to the Congregational Church in 1842, the church voted a strong resolution supporting the Abolitionist movement in 1843, and in 1865 ex-president Franklin Pierce greeted soldiers returning from the Civil War on the green in front of the church. After a split in 1855 and reunion in 1872, the building was cut in two, the halves were separated by twenty feet and reconnected to create more space, the steeple was again enlarged and strengthened, and the town clock was installed. Later milestones included a major interior redecoration completed for the bicentennial in 1955, installation of a new Andover organ in 1975, and a 2007 vote to become an Open and Affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ. Its steeple and clock tower are now undergoing a major rehabilitation after degraded siding and flashing exposed water damage in structural posts and diagonal beams supporting the lantern and bell, expanding the original restoration work to include replacing damaged posts, beams, roof elements, the bell wheel, and other structural features, restoring the weathervane, and addressing lower steeple damage. The bell, still owned by the Town of Rockport, is rung hourly by the town clock and also by rope and bell wheel on special occasions. The original restoration project was estimated in 2015 at $265,692, and a 2015 capital campaign raised about $370,335 for the steeple restoration and other building projects. Rockport voters also approved a $132,046 Community Preservation Act grant matched by church funds, while newly discovered structural damage added significantly to the project’s cost and led engineers and steeplejacks to design replacement structures using modern materials and methods.
