Charlotte's Historic Churches: A Look at Our Past
By Frances Foster,
January 26, 2012, page 15.....

Charlotte supported at least five churches during the 19th century in what is generally regarded as a strongly religious time in our country’s history. All five churches, the Congregational, Methodist, Baptist, Quaker and Catholic, had their start in the late 18th or early 19th centuries, although it took longer for some to build or acquire structures for worship services.
Services by the Charlotte Congregational Church have been held since around 1790, although it was not officially incorporated until January 3, 1792. The town officially sanctioned this church, and the first meetinghouse was paid for with town funds. The Charlotte Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1801, and the Calvinistic Baptist Church incorporated on May 6, 1807. At least three Quaker families lived here in the 1780s, and they worshipped together with the local itinerant minister, Joseph Hoag. Their numbers grew, but they did not have a meetinghouse of their own until 1861. Like the Quakers, the Catholic members of our community did not have a formal place of worship until the mid-part of the century, although they had been holding Mass together in people’s houses for many years prior to that time.

Congregational Church
It took our forefathers about eight years to decide where to build the first church. In 1789 a warning for the Town Meeting read: “To see if the town will build a meeting house or otherwise provide a place of public worship…” Over the next three years, three different committees were formed, and all failed to come to an agreement on where to build the new meetinghouse. The town purchased the building materials in 1791; tradition has it that the materials were moved three times before the current location was finally selected on a hillside site halfway between the east and west sides of town.
The wooden Congregational Church building suffered a fire in January 1848, and the congregation started a new Greek Revival-style brick church that same year. The current church looks much the same now as when it was constructed, although the interior has been altered with new pews and lighting. In September 1983 the ceiling collapsed, resulting in a complete renovation of the building.

Methodist Church
Construction of the first Methodist church building began in 1819 and was completed in 1833. The building and attached parsonage was located on the east side of Greenbush Road, just south of Ferry Road. Both sections of the building burned in 1837. After the fire, a new brick church and separate parsonage were built in 1847 on the same property. An adjoining building was first a female seminary and then a school run by the Methodists. This building burned in 1880, and a new public school called the Lakeview Seminary was built in its place. This school is now a private home.
Services at the Charlotte Methodist Church were held only occasionally after the 1860s, and by the late 19th century the building fell into disuse. It found a new life in 1902 when 13 young ladies put on two performances of a play titled “Breezy Point.” They decided to use the $60 that they raised toward establishing the Breezy Point Library Association. William and Edna Beach, trustees of the Methodist Church property, gave the church to the association to use for the library. The library had previously been located in the Town Clerk’s office. The old church received a new roof and extensive remodeling of the interior. The library continued in the building until 1950 when a hurricane did extensive damage to the roof. With no available financing for repairs, the building was donated to the Shelburne Museum where it was moved and renamed the Charlotte Meeting House.

Baptist Church
The four-corner area in east Charlotte where Spear Street intersects Hinesburg Road has traditionally been known as Baptist Corners. The first Baptist church on Spear Street was constructed around 1808 and was wooden with box pews and an elevated pulpit in one corner. After a fire, a new brick Federal style church was constructed in 1839. This building is still standing, although dwindling membership resulted in its closure in 1938. The remaining Baptists in the area deeded the property to the state Baptist convention and formally joined their church with the Charlotte Congregational Church on August 15, 1938. The old Baptist church building was desanctified in 1939 and sold. It was subsequently turned into a residence.

Quaker Church
In the 19th century, the junction of Lewis Creek Road and Roscoe Road was referred to as Quaker corners. One of the earliest and best known Quakers to live here was the minister, Joseph Hoag, who moved to Charlotte in the 1780s from a Quaker community in Dutchess County, New York. Hoag became a successful farmer and was an itinerant preacher who travelled all around the country. He was best known for his visions.
Although there were numerous members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, in Charlotte, they did not have a formal meeting place until 1861 when they took down an old Quaker meeting house that stood near the Friends’ burying ground in Monkton and moved it to eastern Charlotte near Roscoe Road where the Friends met for about 20-30 years. Later the building was used as a farm shed on the west side of Roscoe Road until about 1970 when it was torn down.

Catholic Church
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, located on Spear Street just south of Baptist Corners, is the second oldest Catholic Church in continuous use in Vermont. Tradition has it that the structure was physically moved ten miles from Starksboro to eastern Charlotte. A wealthy member of the church, John Quinlan, in partnership with Burlington’s Bishop DeGoesbriand, bought a house (now the current vestry) to use as a church. They then learned that the old Quaker meetinghouse in Starksboro was for sale, so it was decided to acquire that building and move it to Charlotte. During the winter of 1858 the building was dragged over ice and snow on skids by teams of oxen and set on a prepared foundation. Such “drawings” were said to be not uncommon and were carried out by 15 or more yokes of oxen pulling huge links of cable connected to whatever needed to be moved.
Despite having their own church building, Charlotte’s Catholic parishioners had a regular priest for only a few of the years until 1874 when they held a successful fundraising picnic on July 4, attended by over 700 people. They raised enough money for a permanent pastor and furnishings for the church. The permanent pastor did not last long, however, for after 1877 the church did not have a regular priest for 89 years until 1966 when the parish was formally reestablished.
Charlotte’s churches have an interesting history that in many ways shows who our earlier townspeople were and what they believed in. We are fortunate that three of these buildings survive in town and hope that these will remain as a visual reminder of our religious history.