History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

nSfi.l NEW MEETING-HOUSE. 69
"0 loads of poles," "2 loads of sprouts," &c. In connection
witli the account for cartage, is another covering
about one hundred seventy days' labor. The men were
paid according to the season of the year, some 4s. and
others 5s. per day. They were undoubtedly employed in
felling the timber and preparing it for transportation.
Most of the stone used in the foundation was brought from
the ''mountain," probably from Mt. Tom, and from Rocky
Hill. The prices paid for carting were from 7s. to 15s. ;
generally from 10s. to l::^s. These materials were placed in
the highway in the vicinity of the old meeting-house, and
there the timber was scored, hewed and framed, readj^ for
raising. Stone for door-steps were purchased of Samuel
Bartlett of Bolton, and he receiA^ed £10 for them.
An Attempt to
When the frame was nearly ready for rais-
change t h e Location.
{^g^ ^u attempt was made to change the
i • p ji t t t .
location or the house, and place it on
the " Sand Hill between Moses Lyman's and Jonathan
Wright's."^ But the proposition was negatived, and a
vote passed that the new house should be set "partly on
North West Side of the present Meeting House, and j)artly
from thence North Eastwardly, on the Ridge of Land whereon
Edward Bakers fence now standeth."^ As some dis-
satisfaction was still manifested concerning the position of
the new building, the town two weeks afterwards reaffirmed
the latter vote, and ordered " that the New meeting House,
when framed Shall be Set at y'^ place where it is framing."
This building stood in the present highway, and the steeple,
at the east end of it, was about on a line with the center
doorway of the XJresent church edifice.
1 From existing topography it is impossible to name with certainty this proposed
site. In all probability it meant merely another position on Meeting-House Hill, but
no sand-hill is now in existence by means of which the place can be identified.
Moses Lyman, grandson of John Lyman, owned at this time the northerly half of the
Rev. Eleazar Mather property (now comprising the southerly side of Main Street
from Pleasant Street to th» Hampshire County Bank) and Jonathan Wright, grandson
of Samuel Wright Sr.. was one of the owners of the lot at the corner of Main
and King Streets (First National Bank and Williston homestead), and it was probably
at the extreme southeast extremity of Meetiug-House Hill, that it was desired
to place the new structure, which is the only point that seems to satisfy the above
conditions.
2 From the above description it is probable that there was an error in the location
of the second meeting-house, and that it may have stood opposite the present
entrance to Gothic Street, and not at that of Center Street as heretofore stated.
See vol. 1, p. 120.