Facing south on Pepperell Road towards the Piscataqua River, the First Congregational Church, the Parsonage, and Old Burying Ground are significant landmarks associated with Kittery's early development. The church, completed in 1730, is a wood-frame building with a gable-front roof and a square tower with a domed roof. An entrance is located in the center of the facade and is flanked by large windows composed of many small panes of glass. The original parsonage, built in 1729, is located north of the church and is a narrow two-story building with a side-gabled roof and long rear ell. The Old Burying Ground was deeded to the Town of Kittery in 1728 and is approximately one acre. It is surrounded by a dry laid stone wall, likely constructed in the 1700s. The cemetery contains elaborate headstones with popular eighteenth-century funerary symbols, such as winged angel heads or weeping willows. Many of Kittery's prominent early residents are buried in the Old Burying Ground. The First Congregational Church was organized in 1653 and likely served by itinerant ministers until the 1690s when the congregation hired a Harvard educated preacher. In the 1720s the congregation voted to build a new church, which was completed in 1728. It burned after the parsonage was completed and was replaced with the existing church. Many of Kittery's most notable early residents worshiped at this church, including the Pepperell's, wealthy merchants who received a baronetcy title from the British Crown, and the Whipple's, successful sea captains, one of whom was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Year Listed: 1978
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