The First Parish in Rockport was constituted in 1755 in honor of the first settlers of Sandy Bay. The cornerstone of this meeting house was laid in 1803, and its tower was shattered by a British bombardment in 1814. Reverend Ebenezer Cleaveland, the first minister, was with Lord Dartmouth, a promoter of Dartmouth College at its foundation. He served four years with the men of his parish in the French and Indian War, made a triumphal entry into Canada, marched with the first contingent to the Battle of Bunker Hill, and served as chaplain and surgeon's mate in the Colonial Army throughout the American Revolution from 1775 to 1783, ministering to this people for fifty years. In 1865, ex-president Franklin Pierce stood upon this green and addressed returning Civil War soldiers.
