St. Paul's Episcopal Church // Concord, New Hampshire

January 30, 2022

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Happy Sunday friends! As I mentioned in my post about a new direction that Caravan Sonnet is heading in (you can read more HERE!) I am excited to spend more time sharing about upstate New York, New York, and New England in my travel posts! Last week I shared that I am excited to share with y'all some recap posts from the New England Winter Road Trip that I took with my mom 2 years ago about a month before the world stopped due to the pandemic! 

At the time I shared a couple of posts about our trip, but with the way the world changed I stopped sharing and didn't get to share even half of what we saw or what we did and so I am excited to revisit this trip and share more! I hope that it encourages you to consider taking a road trip (in part or in whole depending on your circumstances) this winter to this beautiful place in the world!
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Happy Thursday friends! I hope your week is starting off well! Today I am excited to share more about our New England Winter Road Trip that we took in February! If you missed my post on Monday (click HERE) check it out so you can see the exact route that we took. Here is a general overview...
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After eating at Margaritas (you can read my review HERE) we drove less than a half a mile to explore the historic area of Concord. If you go to Concord in the warmer months you could easily walk this, but it was freezing and we chose to drive! *smiles* For those who may need it there is ample disability parking which is wonderful!
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We first walked around St. Paul's Episcopal Church. You couldn't enter at that time but you could walk around and it was beautiful. In many ways the church reminded me of St. John's Stone Church in St Johns, Canada (in the province of New Brunswick). If you have been around the blog for a long time you may remember that I have visited there a couple of times (you can click HERE to read about that beautiful church!) and there were just some similarities in the structure and the red doors.
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St. Paul's Church began after the American Revolution and in many ways it was an interesting time period for this church to begin. At the time Episcopal churches were seen as suspect because of their deep roots with England and due to this growth in the Episcopal churches after the war was very slow. 
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In fact, there were only four church during the time period of St. Paul's beginnings that existed in the entire state of New Hampshire! But in the years following the War of 1812, a group of 10 men decided that they wanted to build an Episcopal church in Concord. So St. Thomas's Chapel came together and met in an existing building of Concord for the years of 1818 to 1820. It was at that time that the decision to build a church was made. 
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A small wooden church was made and the name was changed to St. Paul's. As growth started to slowly expand the church after about eight years, a new building (the red brick building that you see in these pictures) was constructed. That stayed until 1984 when sadly and tragically an arsonist set the church on fire and while the outside walls were structurally safe, the inside was destroyed. 
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Over the next years the inside was reconstructed and today the St. Paul's Episcopal Church is a thriving and important part of the Concord, New Hampshire community. It's always amazing to learn and read of all of the History of these buildings, where they started and where they are now. The stories that people have lived in them is a sobering and inspiring part of History I believe and a gentle reminder of how we can all rise again from the ashes. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read today! Please let me know if you have any questions about St. Paul's or our New England Winter Road Trip! Happy Thursday friends! I hope you have a wonderful day!

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Thank you again for reading today! Are you a teacher? Did you know that I have pictures from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the historical travel section (HERE) of the Caravan Sonnet Teachers Pay Teachers Shoppe? You can find the exact listing HERE! If you are a teacher or a homeschool mama you could use these pictures in a variety of ways in your classroom, in presentations, on printables on social media, and MUCH more! Check out the shoppe HERE!

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