Two of South Berwick’s oldest church communities are preserving history as their congregants repair, remodel and reimagine how they will use buildings in the years ahead. This is the second article in a two-part series on these renovations.
Five miles out of town, on the corner of Emery’s Bridge and Hooper Sands roads, the 190-year-old Emery’s Bridge Meeting House is being cleaned, repaired and rejuvenated by residents of the rural neighborhood long known as Dunnybrook.
Restoration of the small Meeting House and tiny parsonage, which sat idle for five years as its caretakers moved away or died, is headed up by Rheinhold Holton, whose energy and vision for the project is inspired by his fond memories of growing up next door to the once vibrant church.
Holton, known by family and friends as the pastor, is using his own money, time and connections to find contractors and pay utility bills and clean-up costs.
Holton and his neighbors envision a children’s chorus, after-school programs, and weddings and other celebrations once the building is spruced up. Though they have a ways to go to realize that vision, a movie and popcorn night in December already brought the space alive again.
“My passion is to see the church used again as it was before, as a place for gathering by neighbors and families of Dunnybrook,” said Holton, 59, an 11th generation descendant of James Warren, an early colonial settler of South Berwick.
The second generation owner of Mr. Carl’s Custom Tailor, Holton is also involved in efforts to save the old Red Schoolhouse on the nearby corner of Belle Marsh Road. In fact, it was the work going on at the schoolhouse that prompted Meeting House caretakers to ask if he would want to take over the church responsibilities.
On a recent evening, Holton opened up the one-room country church building to show a visitor the interior of simple painted wooden pews and old wallpaper. A heater cut the winter chill as Holton reminisced about what he calls a “Norman Rockwell” childhood. It is those memories that motivate his work on the church and old schoolhouse, both within sight of the home where he grew up and lives today.
Holton remembers exploring the woods, fishing in nearby ponds, and neighbors celebrating holidays together in these buildings. Sunday morning church services began when beautiful operatic choral music was broadcast on outside speakers heard a mile away, he said.
“People in the downtown are very different than those of us who live out here,” Holton said. “I know my neighbors. We don’t have to believe in everything together but we have to know we can call on each other if we need to. “
The story of the meeting house began in 1818 when some members of the First Baptist Church – then located at the intersection of Knight’s Pond and Hooper Sands roads – left to start their own congregation.
Members of the First Baptist Church believed unbaptized babies would be left behind if they died before baptism. The breakaway group believed otherwise and formed a new congregation, according to Kyle Holton, Rheinhold’s nephew.
The first to leave the First Baptist congregation, Jedidiah Goodwin and Ebenezer Blaisdell, were key to getting others to leave. In 1834, with Joshua Goodwin in the lead, the First Christian Church was built at the current site on Emery’s Bridge Road on land donated by Joseph Emery II.
The responsibility of maintaining the church was given to 10 local men and “all their heirs and assigns, as long as the church existed and someone cared for it,” according to Kyle Holton.
The few heirs still in the neighborhood today saw what the Emery’s Bridge Community Improvement Association team was in the process of doing at the Red Schoolhouse, and reached out in October 2022 to see if the association had any interest in taking over care of the church.
“They had seen the work we’ve done with the schoolhouse and thought it was the right fit,” said the younger Holton. The little Red Schoolhouse, historically the town’s Schoolhouse Number 11 before Central School was built in 1925, is kitty corner to the church and has been under renovation by neighbors on weekends and evenings.
Dunnybrook neighbors are putting together a separate organization, the Emery’s Bridge Meetinghouse Association, because churches fall under a different legal status in Maine than the schoolhouse 501c3 nonprofit.
“Once we are finished with the restoration of the schoolhouse, we’ll move on to the church,” the younger Holton said. “We’d eventually like to rent out either place for certain activities for a small donation. Both places will serve as a tribute to the past, a museum of its memories and also to be used as they were originally meant to be. “
The new caretakers are Cindy Chick, Nick Martin, Jay Holton, Leah Arold, Scott Holton and Joanne and Stu Stevens, with Rheinhold Holton serving as pastor, Matt Arold as assistant pastor and Nicole Holton as secretary and treasurer.
Although anyone can help with the project, only Dunnybrook residents may be members of the association. Dunnybrook is defined as the area from the bridge on Belle Marsh Road down to Hooper Sands Bridge, and from Chicks Brook on Emerys Bridge Road to the bridge over Whites Marsh Brook just past Earls Road.
“We love our isolation and our privacy, but we also need to gather, ” said Rheinhold Holton. More information about the project is available from the Emery’s Bridge Community Improvement Association site on Facebook.
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