Seven to Save 2022: St. John's United Methodist Church

St. John’s United Methodist Church was built in 1868 and remained in service until 1979. Its setting near the historic Waumbek Hotel and Golf Course and set amidst the Presidential Range attracted wealthy congregants for many generations. The church was so prosperous that it even developed three chapels around town to cater to more localized nodes of summer and year-round populations. For its first several years, the church was known for its red paint – a condition of an early donor who had a “mania” for the color.

In 1981, the Jefferson Historical Society moved in and created a museum. For decades, the historical society worked to maintain the building and share items of historical importance to the public.

The church’s location right next to Route 2 caused some problems, though. In addition to difficult parking, the building had structural issues worsened by logging trucks zooming by at 50 miles per hour. The main floor of the building was pulling away from Route 2, straining the rear wall. Volunteers implemented a bracing system to combat this problem, but it didn’t solve the bigger structural issue.

After the historic town hall burned in 2021, the town decided to merge town offices, town hall, and the library into the recently vacated elementary school. The historical society made the difficult decision to join too. Maintenance of the historic church was too expensive and was distracting members from their other mission of curating and sharing the town’s history with the public.

The church will now revert to the New England Methodist Conference and its future is unknown. While the historical society sad to leave this landmark, they also know it’s necessary for the society’s health after four decades of stewardship, according to member Joe Marshall. The Methodist conference and historical society want to see a good next chapter for the building and will remain advocates for its preservation.

Stay up to date on this program, including when submissions open for next year’s list, and browse listees from past years (we’ve been highlighting endangered properties since 2006!) by vising the Seven to Save homepage.

Are you part of a group involved with one of our previous listees? We’d love to hear how you’re doing! Call us at (603) 224-2281 or email seventosave@nhpreservation.org.