Ridgebury Congregational Church — An American Story

Ridgebury Congregational Church serves as a beacon of American history and a symbol of continuing faith. This corner, this land, has been witness to the establishment of the United States through peace and war.

The area’s religious role dates from the establishment of the “New Patent Meeting House” in 1738, which was recognized by a Ridgefield town meeting on December 13, 1742. It was formally organized as “The Ridgebury Ecclesiastical Society” with a congregation of 18 members in January of 1760, and recognized by the colonial Connecticut General Assembly in 1761.

The Ridgebury Pound was authorized at the Ridgefield town meeting in 1737, and was located at the joining of Old Stagecoach and Ridgebury roads. To be officially designated as a Town, an area had to include a church, a school, a meeting house, and a pound. The four elements were closely connected as the minister was often the school teacher, and the school teacher often served as shepherd for the pound. The pound was fenced-in acreage on which the town’s 2,000 sheep were kept, along with any domestic animals straying from local farms. Farmers paid to “rent” the town’s sheep for several weeks to graze and fertilize their lands. Strays were reclaimed by paying a fee (25 cents) which in turn was used to finance the schools. Ridgebury in the 1700s usually had five schools with a minimum of nine students each. Students had to bring their own firewood to school.

Ridgebury applied three times to become a town separate from Ridgefield and Danbury, but the two towns, not wishing to lose their land or one of their two General Assembly representatives respectively, repeatedly voted against granting the request.

However, Ridgebury remained quite a self-sufficient neighborhood boasting four taverns (including two Keeler Taverns), two stores, a sawmill, a clothier, a tanner, a blacksmith, two plasterers and a trader with good road access to New York. The tax list for Ridgebury right after the Revolution included 619 head of cattle, 148 horses, 849 sheep, 1,111 acres of farmlands, 2,159 acres of meadows and 3,350 acres of “boggy and bushy land.” Also taxed in Ridgebury were one chaise, 19 silver watches, 4 metal clocks, 4 wooden clocks, and 232 fireplaces.

Ridgebury industry grew quickly with many hatters and shoemakers. The church clerk’s records also show that in the late 1800s over a thousand women were employed to finish shirts that were cut out in New York City and brought to Ridgebury for sewing.

Throughout almost 250 years the church has been served by 32 ministers, four of whom served a total of 112 of those years: Samuel Camp (1769–1804), who is buried in the cemetery with his three wives); Nathan Burton (1821–1841); William Parsons (1871–1884, 1889–1895); and Hugh Shields, who served 39 years from 1923–1962 while also serving full time at the First Congregational Church of Ridgefield from 1919–1956. Hugh Shields’ son, Reed, was buried next to his father in Ridgebury Cemetery in 2006. Many of these ministers were students at or graduates of Yale School of Divinity following in the footsteps of Samuel Camp and Hugh Shields.

In the quiet of this simple frame church and the nearby cemetery you can sense the presence of colonials. Troops from England, France, French Canada and the Colonies have passed by here and have camped both on the land and in the church. Among the famous, Benedict Arnold, Alexander Hamilton and George Washington with the Marquis de Lafayette met here with the Comte de Rochambeau from France; British General Tryon with his Danbury-burning army passed by. Ridgebury was well represented among the 275 Ridgefielders fighting the Revolutionary War, and Ridgebury Cemetery, established in 1743, is the final resting place of 16 Revolutionary War soldiers. One, Thomas Boughton, joined the French troops under Rochambeau as a teamster, and was honored with a cannon salute and graveside homage from the French Ambassador at the 1981 re-enactment of Rochambeau’s army encampment at Ridgebury Church. Ridgefield men and women have continued to serve our country faithfully throughout its history: 209 in the Civil War, 171 in World War I, 625 in World War II, and others in Korea, Viet Nam, and the Middle East. Many of these were from Ridgebury.

In the application to the National Register of Historic Places, David Ransom of the Connecticut Historical Commission comments: “The church was an important center of community life in Connecticut history and in Ridgefield for many decades, especially during the years until 1818 when it was taxpayer-supported. In Ridgebury, the importance of the church’s location as the activity center was strengthened by the fact that the general store and post office were next door, to the north. The corner of Ridgebury Road and George Washington Highway both religiously and commercially was the center of the community....the white church on its country corner...makes an important contribution to the historic and architectural character of the community.”

— Josette Williams, RCC Historian
2006
Historian@RidgeburyChurch.org

1707
32 colonists from Norwalk buy 20,000 acres from Chief Catoonah for 100 pounds of Connecticut currency

1709
Colonial General Assembly creates Ridgefield

1731
“New Patent” or “Ridgebury” land acquired from Indians

1737
Ridgefield Town Meeting allows Ridgebury to build on a tract of land laid out for a meeting house (the town had to vote permission to open another worship venue)

1738
Ridgebury congregation begins meeting in the “New Patent Meeting House” (south of the present church)

1743
Ridgebury Cemetery established

1760
Ridgebury Ecclesiastical Society established. In 1960 at Ridgebury Congregational Church’s 200th Anniversary Services, Connecticut Governor Abraham Ribicoff officially recognized 1760 as the congregation’s organizational birthdate.

1762
John Whitlock donates land for “house for public worship of God” to “Dissenting Society in Ridgebury” (There’s no record of who was dissenting from whom or about what!)

1764
Congregation “voted ourselves Congregationals”

1768-9
New church building constructed, 46' x 36', with no plaster, walls, or pews for 24 years!

1777
British, returning to coast from their raid on Danbury, fire upon parsonage

1781
Rochambeau with 6,000 troops encamps at “Ridgebury Meeting House” corner

1790
Phillis, a Negro woman servant, is baptized and admitted as a member of the church

1792, 1816, 1834
major repairs of church; pews handmade, walls plastered

1800–1850
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, Ridgebury quickly grew into a thriving village with a stagecoach line running from the Whitney home on Old Stagecoach Road to Norwalk, leaving Ridgebury at 2:30 am. Ridgebury had its own post office and general store (right beside the church).

1839
Ridgebury Congregationalists help care for and save the ship Amistad’s 53 Mendi captives of West Africa from being sold as slaves

1844
Another parsonage erected

1851
Present church erected on site of the 1768 building, using materials from 1768 church with no increase in foundation size. This is the current structure, built in Greek Revival architectural style which was a mid-19th century movement to re-introduce the classic lines of ancient Greek temples into the design of everyday buildings.

1870
Railroad arrived to connect Danbury and Ridgefield to Norwalk and New York City. The area slowly converted from subsistence farming to dairy farms supplying the surrounding suburban communities.

1922
Church closed and deserted for a year

1923
Hugh Shields, minister of First Congregational Church (downtown Ridgefield) and a few Ridgebury residents reopened Ridgebury Congregational Church.

1968
Ridgebury Church establishes a community day nursery and a Country Day School

1972–4
Members of the congregation, with help from an architect and professional contractors, convert classrooms into a parsonage and add second floor to Shields Hall

1983
Connecticut State Historic Preservation office nominates Ridgebury Congregational Church to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places, administered by the National Park Service under the United States Department of the Interior

1984
Ridgebury Congregational Church is accepted for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Although this listing “ordinarily excludes properties...used for religious purposes,” Ridgebury Congregational Church receives the distinction of being listedbecause it is deemed “a religious property deriving primary significance from architectural...artistic distinction [and] historical importance”

2006
State of Connecticut recognizes Ridgebury Congregational Church as major historical site on Rochambeau’s 1781 march from Rhode Island to Yorktown VA. Plaque presented to church.

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