A Historical Building
Nancy and I just recently visited the beautiful Historic Old Stone Church, which is a vacant building located in West Boylston, Massachusetts. While visiting the site, we enjoyed a short hike. You will also find many photo opportunities while exploring this beautiful area.
You will find the Old Stone Church on the shoreline of the Wachusett Reservoir, which is located 35 miles west of Boston. Here, the church is serving as a monument to the thousands of buildings, which were removed from the Nashua River Valley to create the reservoir.
This church was the only structure allowed to stay because of its stone construction. All other wooden structures were removed, due to the chance of degrading and effecting the quality of the drinking water.
Old Stone Church History
Old Stone Church was built in 1892, replacing the burned down Baptist Church. On April 13, 1973, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places. However, the church was rebuilt in 1975 due to the roof and a major portion of the wall collapsing. The church was rebuilt over the next 5 years to replicate the original as much as possible, at the cost of $181,000.00.
Metropolitan Water Board purchased the church from the Baptist Society in 1897. The church continued to have services until 1902, when the state took control of the church building.
All of the building interior items as well as the stained glass windows and the church bell were moved to the new church location. The new location is located on Church Street, West Boylston.
Although the state had control of the church building, the Baptist church remained active. The church continued to have services until the Freemasons took control of the church in 1972. Today, the interior of the building still resembles the Old Stone Church.
A Popular Tourist Attraction
Here, the Old Stone Church serves as a popular tourist attraction, where you and visitors can come to reflect, fish, picnic, and/or take photographs. You may simply enjoy the beautiful scenic views of this historic site. Bald Eagles, Common Loons and several Duck species can also be viewed at this site.
DCR Rules
When visiting the Old Stone Church, we ask you please be respectful of their following rules, the following are Not Permitted:
- Trespassing After Dark- Subject to Arrest
- Drones
- Animals/Dogs/Pets
- Bicycles
- Swimming or Bathing
- Motorized Vehicles
- Bodily Contact With The Water
- Smoking or Building Fires
- Alcoholic Beverages
- Disposing of human waste, trash, or litter
- Groups of more than 25 people are prohibited without a written permit from DCR
- Feeding the water fowl
If you are looking for a small piece of Massachusetts History that only takes a short time to enjoy, then the beautiful Historic Old Stone Church is the place to visit!
Here, you can visit the West Boylston Historical Society website @ http://wbhistory.org
For more interest historic blog articles, you can click the following blog links:
https://lifeoftheemptynesters.com/2018/12/10/amazing-places-to-visit-in-beautiful-old-san-juan/
https://lifeoftheemptynesters.com/2019/02/01/1810-house-bed-breakfast/
