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fill the second floor, accessible by a steep<br />
wooden staircase.<br />
Big barn doors were installed in the<br />
building in 1903 to transform from a<br />
place of faith to a firehouse with a belfry<br />
and bell constructed on its roof.<br />
Today, the building is owned by the<br />
town but managed by the society with<br />
Gillon overseeing event booking. A<br />
town resident since 1983, Gillon and<br />
her husband, Bob, bought the Joseph<br />
Henfield House on Main Street in 2006.<br />
“We drove by it for years and years<br />
and just drooled every time we saw it,”<br />
she said.<br />
An antique lover, Gillon immersed<br />
herself in the 351-year-old home’s<br />
history and jumped into town historical<br />
preservation efforts, including the<br />
unsuccessful bid to save the Grant/<br />
Perkins House.<br />
A bookkeeper for a local company,<br />
JogNob, Gillon credits the Historical<br />
Commission with crafting an ordinance<br />
placing a moratorium on teardowns of<br />
historic structures.<br />
“There’s a saying: ‘If you lose your<br />
history, you live anywhere,’” she said.<br />
She said the Meeting House is a<br />
centerpiece of town history showcased<br />
and preserved on the Common. With<br />
its rough-hewn ceiling beam work and<br />
sections of the original walls visible<br />
under Plexiglass, Gillon said the<br />
Meeting House is at once a peek into old<br />
Lynnfield and a modern place to carry<br />
on the building’s tradition as a gathering<br />
place.<br />
Weddings are held in the building’s<br />
main floor about every four months with<br />
a capacity of 80 people and a $250 nonresident<br />
rental fee. Gillon said bridal<br />
showers, anniversary parties and<br />
other gatherings are hosted<br />
in the Meeting House. Most<br />
people who book the space hear<br />
about it by word of mouth.<br />
“We’re so low-tech, we ask you<br />
to send us a check,” she said.<br />
The building is also a fixer-upper<br />
in need of a paint job and roof work.<br />
The society is helping to pay for the<br />
construction of a gazebo this fall on the<br />
Common near the Meeting House.<br />
“This is a priceless example of Puritan<br />
craftsmanship,” she said.<br />
To book the Meeting House<br />
for an event, send an email to<br />
lynnf ieldmeetinghouse@gmail.com.<br />
This is a<br />
priceless example<br />
of Puritan<br />
craftsmanship.”<br />
PHOTOS BY OWEN O’ROURKE<br />
The ceiling and pews on the second floor of the Old Meeting House on Lynnfield Town Common.<br />
FALL <strong>2018</strong> | 13
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