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2019dca8de5f5025e3c404d18f6b60c0
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Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
Postcards from Falmouth Oral History Transcript
Recorded: September 22, 2021
Oral Historian: Reverend Nell Fields
Interviewer: Anna Lee
Topic: Waquoit Congregational Church
Note: The right column references postcards by identifiers searchable in the Digital
Commonwealth online collection.
00:00
[Music]
00:45
so the church obviously it's this really
00:47
striking building and it's had a lot of
00:50
time to become embedded in the fabric of
00:52
the community
00:53
so if you could just do a rundown of the
00:55
history for me tell me a little bit
00:57
about how that started
00:59
uh absolutely and first of all thank you
01:01
for inviting me here uh Waquoit
#waquoitcongregationalchurch
Hunt_Waquoit-Bldg_364
01:05
Congregational Church
01:07
was built in 1848
01:12
so it's not
01:13
that old
01:15
and the reason why uh the folks in the
01:18
village decide to build the church is
01:19
they got tired of walking to the East
01:23
Falmouth church which is in Hatchville
01:26
and if if if that weren't far enough
#1848
1
#hatchville
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
01:29
some of the folks were going to the
01:30
downtown church and they said you know
01:32
let's save some time let's let's build a
01:35
church so they built
01:37
uh the
01:38
the building for
01:41
1350
01:42
dollars
01:43
and back in the day
01:45
we didn't have they didn't have enough
01:47
money
01:49
to really do the inside with that fancy
01:51
plaster that you have so they used
01:55
poor man's plaster which is tin
01:58
so we're
01:59
one of the few churches I know of on the
02:02
Cape that have
02:04
that has tin on the ceilings and tin on
02:07
the walls
02:09
and it's not
02:10
just one
02:12
type of panels there's 18 different
02:15
tin
02:17
panels in there
02:18
I said to somebody now how do you know
02:20
they're 18. and they said oh I counted
02:23
them I said I hope you didn't do that
2
#firstcongregationalchurch
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
02:24
during my sermon
02:26
so nowadays it's it's it's really lovely
02:29
and it's very very expensive now to have
02:33
tin panels but back in the day and it
02:35
started off as a summer church
02:38
and it became really a year-round church
02:41
in the 1950s
02:43
and when it was built it was
02:46
the the color scheme of the day was
02:50
white with dark green corner boards and
02:54
dark green
02:56
shutters I wore my dark green clergy
02:59
shirt to to show the listeners the
03:02
viewers
03:03
the the color that it was but when I
03:06
arrived there 11 years ago it was all
03:09
white
03:10
with black shutters
03:12
and the white wasn't even painted it was
03:15
vinyl siding
03:18
and we noticed when the the vitals vinyl
03:21
siding was starting to crack we noticed
03:23
that there was some rot there
03:25
and we were very fortunate to get a CPC
03:27
grant
03:28
to
03:29
renovate
3
#cpc (Community
Preservation Committee)
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
03:30
the church
03:32
and so we peeled off the the vinyl
03:35
siding and it revealed these dark corner
03:39
boards
03:41
underneath
03:43
white that had been painted over them
03:46
and
03:48
we wanted to go back to what the church
03:51
was originally but it originally looked
03:53
like and we took a sample of that and it
03:55
wasn't black it was this very
03:58
specific
03:59
dark
04:00
green and so we painted it
04:04
so it could look like it did in 1848
04:08
that's really fascinating so there was a
04:10
um a strong historical restoration
04:13
component to that renovation then right
04:15
oh my gosh that I’m getting absolutely
04:18
so we restored it to the original color
04:21
and just as an aside
04:24
just to give you an idea of how iconic
04:27
that church is because many people if
04:29
you're going to downtown Falmouth you
04:31
pass that church when we repainted it
04:34
and restored it
04:38
instead of using a white primer on those
4
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
04:41
corner boards you want to use a little
04:43
bit darker color and so our painter
04:47
used a
04:49
oh like a turquoise a Key West green
04:53
just as the primer well people had no
04:56
idea was the primer they thought that's
04:58
what we were painting the church
05:00
I got more phone calls
05:03
and some not very pleasant phone calls
05:05
like I can't believe that you're
05:07
painting that you know Key West green
05:10
the Chamber got calls the town got calls
05:12
and finally I I told our painter I said
05:14
can you just
05:16
you know get a piece of plywood and
05:18
write the word primer on it and so he he
05:22
wrote “it's primer”
05:24
so we had that leaning up against the
05:26
church while we were renovating that
05:28
uh kind of interestingly
05:31
when we were we had to replace some of
05:33
the siding and as we peeled back the
05:35
siding
05:36
we saw what our
05:39
what the the folks used for
05:42
insulation
05:43
it was a newspaper
5
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
05:45
back from the 1800s
05:48
so there's nothing there's really
05:50
nothing between the siding in that tin
05:52
but old newspaper and I was able to save
05:55
some of it it's all in like six point
05:57
type and one of the stories talked about
06:00
a neighborhood lad who got lost in the
06:03
woods but he was found
06:05
you know that was that was exciting news
06:07
back then
06:08
that idea of um being able to peel back
06:11
the surface to see history underneath
06:13
that is um really interesting I think
06:15
one of the things we're trying to get at
06:16
with this project so I’m glad you
06:18
brought that up and it does sound like
06:21
um people are very invested in the idea
06:24
of the church as a local icon
06:27
and they they really want to weigh in on
06:29
what they see and how they how they
06:30
perceive it as part of the community
06:32
yes and especially for
06:34
in our situation Waquoit is the smallest
06:37
village in
06:38
in Falmouth and
06:40
the the church over the years really has
06:43
become
6
#waquoit
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
06:44
the heart
06:46
of the village
06:47
when these
06:50
buildings were erected
06:53
initially they were not only a church
06:55
they were a meeting house they were the
06:57
center for activity in the village and
07:00
if there was something of important that
07:03
people needed to discuss everybody would
07:05
gather in there and they would you know
07:07
talk about it and and now we've really
07:10
become the focus of the community not
07:13
only because of the building but all the
07:16
things that we do
07:18
to reach out to the community and invite
07:20
the community in together
07:23
but the outside of the building
07:25
doesn't tell the full story
07:27
because as iconic as it is on the
07:30
outside
07:31
it's equally iconic
07:33
inside
07:34
because
07:38
the folks who belong to that church
07:41
actually
07:42
paid for the church
07:44
by buying a pew
7
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
07:47
and so our pews are still numbered and
07:49
if maybe the Fields family had 16 or the
07:52
Bourne family had
07:54
20 and they
07:56
literally paid for the pew they built
07:59
their own
08:00
book rack you can go into that church
08:02
and there's
08:04
oh five or six different designs on the
08:06
book rack
08:08
of course the Fields family had
08:09
something very plain but the Bournes had a
08:11
very scrolled book rack they made their
08:14
own elbow rest
08:16
it's just like a curve thing it's not
08:18
very
08:19
comfortable
08:20
the person who was in pew 27 liked to
08:24
chew tobacco and um
08:27
there's still a spittoon on the floor so
08:30
you and you pick up
08:31
the cover of it and it's all copper
08:34
inside
08:36
we use that during the summer
08:39
to put a dehumidifier hose in
08:43
the other thing that's sort of iconic is
08:45
is
#bourne
8
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
08:46
looking at the changes over the years
08:49
that our foreparents
08:51
made
08:53
when this was first built there was no
08:55
altar area that came a little bit later
08:58
there's a step and then the altar area
09:01
uh about six seven years ago
09:05
we had to replace that platform because
09:07
it got a little squishy and and one of
09:09
our folks replaced it and just left the
09:12
wood out in the back
09:14
and I thought oh I better haul that wood
09:16
away and when I looked at the wood that
09:19
that platform first was built
09:22
it had stencil on it
09:24
and it said
09:25
to Waquoit Church
09:27
from
09:28
the New England Organ Company
09:32
good old Yankees we built that first
09:34
platform on with the crate
09:38
that our first organ
09:40
came in
09:41
um I looked at that uh
09:43
the New England Organ Company went out
09:46
of business in the
09:48
late 1800s so I I’m pretty sure that
9
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
09:51
that was
09:52
the original platform at the time
09:55
wow so there are a lot of really it
09:57
sounds like interesting
09:58
personal decorative details really
10:00
worked into yeah
10:02
I didn't even get to the the beautiful
10:05
uh chandelier that's in the map in the
10:07
middle it's Sandwich glass and it was
10:09
originally uh filled with whale oil and
10:12
you have to go up into the attic
10:14
to
10:15
crank that
10:17
line down we now replaced it with with a
10:19
chain in order to fill it
10:22
with whale oil and we have Sandwich
10:25
glass lanterns on the side that are now
10:27
electric
10:29
and and the other thing that we did over
10:31
the years is that we did put seat
10:33
cushions in
10:34
new seat cushions because they didn't
10:36
have them
10:37
it was all wooden pews
10:39
but we also
10:41
extended the seat cushion for about
10:44
two to three inches because
10
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
10:46
over the years
10:47
you know people have gotten a little a
10:49
little bit bigger than our foreparents
10:52
yeah it's the little things it's the
10:53
little things but got to keep people
10:55
comfortable during those hour-long
10:57
service
10:58
hour-long sermons thinking about all
11:01
that I can imagine that there must be a
11:03
really strong sense of personal
11:04
investment people have really left their
11:06
mark and been allowed to
11:08
see that they have left their mark
11:09
themselves their families
11:11
and
11:12
that concept and the idea of
11:15
faith communities working to build
11:17
something that has a lasting impact in
11:18
the community
11:20
is a theme that's come up um over and
11:22
over again in these interviews
11:23
is there something along those lines
11:25
that you want to
11:26
reach something recent or ongoing that
11:28
you want to spotlight in terms of that
11:30
kind of project that reaches out to the
11:32
community
11
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
11:33
um
11:34
well I think for us it's sort of ongoing
11:36
you know we're we're here for the
11:38
community we respond to the community
11:40
one thing I do want to highlight is
11:42
um
11:44
I’ve always seen
11:46
our chapel I call it a chapel because
11:48
it's it's tiny and it's so beautiful
11:51
I’ve always seen our chapel as a place
11:54
of light and and
11:57
metaphorically of course and so I’ve
12:00
always thought this is a place of light
12:02
for people this is a a harbor a safety
12:06
place
12:07
a place where people can come no matter
12:08
who they are and feel welcome there
12:13
fast forward a couple of years I learned
12:15
what the word Waquoit means it's a
12:17
Wampanoag word and it means
12:20
a place of light
12:22
and and I think it just sort of
12:25
the the the sanctuaries and everything
12:28
it represents just sort of speaks for
12:29
itself it is a place of light in a
12:33
village
12:34
that is a place of light
#wampanoag
12
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
12:36
that's wonderful and I do think I know
12:38
what you mean in the sense that um
12:42
you know you're right there in Waquoit
12:43
Village kind of out on the edge of
12:44
everything right out to the sea
12:47
and um
12:48
that becomes people
12:50
people build a strong sense of identity
12:52
in a place like that and that becomes
12:53
something that's entrenched
12:55
oh
12:56
I’ve had you're absolutely right I’ve
12:57
had so many people uh tell me that
13:01
it just makes them smile makes them
13:02
happy when they drive by that church I
13:06
can't I personally
13:08
cannot ever imagine
13:11
that church
13:12
not being there
13:14
because it is so
13:15
um identified with Waquoit it's so
13:18
identified with that community and and
13:21
back in the day
13:23
you could go up in the balcony and you
13:25
could see Waquoit Bay that was our you
#waquoitbay
Gunning_Waquoit_Har_0563
13:27
know the the first harbor that the town
13
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
13:30
ever had was in Waquoit Bay
13:32
and
13:33
sailors actually used our steeple
13:36
to find their way home
13:38
sail toward the steeple and now that
13:41
steeple is used
13:43
for the Falmouth Airpark they always
13:45
know that they're home because they're
13:46
flying toward the steeple so it's a it's
13:49
a place of light and it's a it's a
13:51
beacon that it it almost calls to you as
13:54
you're rounding the bend as you're
13:55
coming
13:56
from Mashpee toward Falmouth you you just
13:59
you know that you're home because you
14:00
see that steeple
14:02
that is really wonderful and I think
14:04
maybe living in Falmouth some people
14:06
might become
14:08
not used to but we have
14:09
so many historical um
14:12
interesting historical buildings so many
14:14
hallmarks of the you know the history we
14:16
share around us that maybe
14:18
we might be tempted to take for granted
14:20
the idea that
14:22
we still have existing around us all
14
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
14:24
these
14:25
markers of you know the common identity
14:27
that we've built the ways we delineate
14:28
you know this is our place this is our
14:30
community
14:31
so it's it's great to be reminded of
14:32
that and know that something like that
14:34
is still out there and still
14:37
being you know
14:38
seen for the same purpose interpreted
14:40
for the same purpose
14:41
yeah now I think what what is unique
14:43
about um the Waquoit church is that it's
14:46
just right out there in the open
14:48
by itself I mean we have some historical
14:50
houses around it but there's there's
14:52
there's no crowding there's there's
14:54
there's nothing else around it so it's
14:56
it's just out
14:59
there and it doesn't get lost
15:03
in other buildings or with other
15:04
buildings
15:06
you said that you don't think you could
15:09
imagine Waquoit without the church and
15:11
I think for exactly the reason you just
15:13
described I think that's true for a lot
15:14
of people
15
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
15:15
it stands out
15:17
but um to pivot a little bit maybe to
15:20
speak about getting lost in a
15:21
metaphorical sense um
15:24
and especially
15:25
when we're talking about community
15:26
initiatives um is there anything in
15:29
terms of challenges that you faced in
15:31
the past year or so during the pandemic
15:33
that you think stand out in the history
15:35
of the church
15:37
um
15:41
the the pandemic was
15:44
an incredible time of growth for us
15:48
and you use my the word du jour pivot I
15:51
mean it was like
15:52
boom we had to pivot immediately so
15:56
we uh we never missed a Sunday
15:59
we had uh
16:00
technology our first thing of technology
16:02
was an iPhone and an iPad and we were we
16:06
went to Zoom and Facebook and now we
16:07
have cameras and and lights and and
16:10
everything else and uh the pandemic
16:13
taught us the value
16:15
of community and that
16:18
I think we were people were more willing
16
#pandemic
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
16:20
to be vulnerable with each other and
16:23
that hunger to connect and to be part of
16:26
something
16:27
greater than yourself really
16:30
really came through and we're we're a
16:32
different church we're a better church
16:35
a more responsive church than we were
16:37
before and oh my gosh we were very
16:40
involved
16:41
with
16:42
with the community and responding to
16:44
community
16:45
needs but during the pandemic it it
16:47
really it got real we started a food
16:50
program
16:52
we were delivering meals to
16:54
people in need on a weekly basis and my
16:57
idea was of need is not only a monetary
17:00
need but
17:02
parents who were just done with cooking
17:04
for the week um you know they would they
17:07
would call me up or somebody would
17:09
nominate them and we delivered them a
17:11
full meal for Christmas
17:13
we
17:14
uh partnered with our our good friends
17:16
The Buffalo Jump who they live in Waquoit
17
#thebuffalojump
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
17:18
and we gave away drive through 800
17:23
fully cooked turkey dinners
17:27
we wouldn't even
17:28
we didn't even think about that pre
17:30
pandemic and the fact that we have this
17:33
small church with this like big heart
17:35
just delights me some and I think that's
17:37
what people
17:38
see and feel
17:40
and and and think about when they drive
17:42
by that chapel oh that's the church that
17:45
does this that's the church that feeds
17:48
people that's the church that has great
17:50
music that's the church that does these
17:52
wonderful yard sales that the church
17:54
that
17:55
you know reaches out to inviting Afghan
17:58
families to come to development
18:00
that's another interesting and really
18:02
topical question that I’d like to ask
18:04
you about if you could elaborate on that
18:06
a little bit
18:07
we are working with four other
18:09
individuals
18:11
we
18:12
started a group called Neighborhood
18:15
um Support Team
18
#neighborhoodsupportteam
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
18:17
and we've identified three families who
18:20
are opening up their homes they had an
18:22
apartment maybe in their house or their
18:24
their summer folk
18:26
that we're going to we've asked to
18:28
resettle
18:29
uh three families from Afghanistan here
18:32
to Falmouth so we're currently working
18:34
with a an agency
18:36
they're waiting for those families to
18:38
come in from the military bases
18:40
and once they do they're going to show
18:43
families
18:44
our profile that we put together just
18:47
the greatness of a Falmouth you know our
18:49
scientific community and in Woods Hole
18:52
and
18:53
we're ready we've got all our teams put
18:55
together we've raised
18:57
we've raised money so we're ready to
18:59
welcome them
19:01
I think
19:02
looping back to the topic of the
19:03
pandemic it's really a watershed moment
19:05
for a lot of institutions and I would
19:07
hope that the thing that gets hammered
19:09
home for people is that it is about
19
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
19:12
standing up and making sure people don't
19:13
get left behind that's right which is I
19:16
see as the common theme of what you're
19:18
telling me
19:19
yes yes it's um
19:23
I think we saw that during the pandemic
19:26
and it's something that we've always
19:27
known
19:28
is that what
19:30
I think what makes Waquoit unique and
19:32
Falmouth unique is that
19:35
we do have a strong community and and
19:37
and because we're willing to reach out
19:39
and connect
19:41
with others and to make sure that people
19:43
aren't
19:44
left behind and it's so easy to be left
19:47
behind in so many in so many different
19:50
ways
19:51
and the pandemic taught us that
19:54
um you know we do have to reach out
19:57
and welcome people welcome all people
20:00
and that's the other thing that delights
20:02
me about uh Waquoit
20:05
and and not you know when you walk
20:07
inside
20:08
that chapel you feel the sense of of
20
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
20:11
welcome that yes you're kind of stepping
20:13
back in time but you're also stepping in
20:16
to a new future a new reality and when
20:20
you leave
20:22
you're changed
20:24
and isn't that what's supposed to happen
20:25
anyway
20:26
I think so and I think the the extent to
20:29
which
20:30
you believe that is really obvious and
20:32
I’m really happy to see it and um just
20:34
just to wrap up is there anything else
20:36
that you want people to know about the
20:37
church if they're looking for
20:38
information
20:40
no matter who you are no matter what
20:42
you've done no matter what you believe
20:44
in you are
20:45
welcomed
20:46
at our church and you don't even have to
20:49
believe in anything
20:51
then and anytime you just want a tour
20:53
you know
20:54
stop by or give us a call and we're very
20:56
happy to do so oh that's wonderful
20:59
well
21:00
and thank you so much for coming it was
21
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
21:02
great to have you as part of this
21:03
project it was wonderful thank you so
21:04
much
22
�
Text
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Title
A name given to the resource
Transcript of Reverend Nell Fields' Oral History on Waquoit Congregational Church
1848
Anna Lee
Bourne
COVID-19
CPC
First Congregational Church
Hatchville
neighborhood support team
nell fields
oral history
pandemic
Postcards from Falmouth
The Buffalo Jump
transcript
Wampanoag
Waquoit
Waquoit Bay
Waquoit Congregational Church