Vote to Save the Colonial Heart of Barrington

Nockum Hill is a quiet corner of Barrington, cut off from the rest by water and by the state of Massachusetts. Nockum Hill, for countless generations a focal point for the Wampanoag people of the area, also became the first English settlement center in our town when, in the 1660s, Rev. John Myles led a small group of Baptists to settle here under a covenant of religious toleration. Lot 3A, the parcel pending acquisition by the Town, is almost certainly the site of Rev. Myles’s meeting house, documented as standing by 1668—which made it possibly the earliest purpose-built Baptist church building in the Western Hemisphere.

Redrawing the Massachusetts boundary in the 1740s isolated Nockum Hill and saved it from subsequent development. What was once a colonial village center and meeting house is now open land with one narrow road and no utilities.

That unique survival has been threatened by proposals for dense development of Lot 3A, inappropriate given its rustic infrastructure, and contrary to the parcel’s importance for environmental conservation as well as its unique historic value. The Town has responded to those concerns by approving the purchase of this lot, with costs to be offset by agricultural easements and, possibly, additional grant support. The Appropriations Committee has approved the Town’s plan.

Voices in The Times these past two weeks have showcased the important conservation reasons for the Town to purchase Lot 3A and preserve it. From a historical perspective, this purchase would also allow all of us to continue to enjoy and better study the earliest colonial heart of Barrington.

How can you help? Turn out and vote to approve the acquisition of Lot 3A at the Financial Town Meeting this Wednesday, May 22, at 7:00 pm at the High School.

Nathaniel Taylor
President, Barrington Preservation Society