In The Beginning...
by Barbara Pearsall
The early settlers of North Haven, or the 'planters' as they were called, began building their homes here in 1670. This area was known as the 'North Parish of New Haven.' Since there was no church building here, the settlers were compelled to go to New Haven for their spiritual nourishment, which they received at the one and only meeting house serving the entire area. That church we know today as Center Church on the Green.
Attending church proved very difficult for the settlers, many of whom had to walk all the way to New Haven and back. How happy they were when, in December of 1714, the Rev. James Pierpont, late minister of the First Society, left in his will eight to ten acres of land for his neighbors to the North, provided they would set their meeting house on the land and make their training and burying place there. In 1716 they petitioned the General Assembly for permission to form their own separate parish. This was granted at the Assembly's October session. Thus was founded, on November 2, 1716, the Ecclesiastical Society of the North Parish of New Haven, parents of the Congregational Church.
This was our humble beginning, and the beginning of the organization of the town of North Haven.
The Window, September 2002