Westminster Meetinghouse // 1770
The Westminster Meetinghouse (aka the Westminster Congregational Church) was built in 1770 by Canterbury, Connecticut residents who in the 1760s, created a separate religious jurisdiction, the Westminster Society, due to their reluctance to travel long distances to Canterbury village for required religious services. Local resident John Parks donated land to be used as a public green, as well as a site for a cemetery and this meetinghouse. Sherebiah Butts, captain of the local militia, was engaged as master builder and architect, who along with his sons and other helpers, constructed the church by 1770. The original church, originally a square-plan meetinghouse, initially faced east, but was rotated to face south by around 1840, when the entire structure was remodelled in the prevailing Greek Revival style. The church is said to be one of the oldest continually utilized meetinghouses in Connecticut.