First Baptist Church of Three Mile Bay The Town of Lyme was established in 1818. Twenty years later, citizens of the town had built 3 taverns, but no churches. In 1840 the Baptist congregation erected Lyme’s first house of worship on what would become known as Church Street in Three Mile Bay. The structure cost $2,500. The congregation had been holding regular services in various buildings around town since organizing on Point Salubrious in 1816. With over 200 years of worship, the Baptist congregation is the town’s oldest continuous religious gathering. Chaumont Presbyterian Church Lyme’s Presbyterian congregation formed at Chaumont in 1831 with 18 members (11 of whom were named McPherson). Before they had a permanent home of their own, they gathered to worship in a stone school house which used to stand on the corner of Main and Washington Streets (where the Hunt family’s house is now). In 1844 Solon and Alathea Massey donated land for a new church; the building was completed in 1845. One of the early ministers in the new building was the Rev. William Cleveland, who took the pulpit in 1890. Cleveland was the brother of Grover Cleveland, the only President of the United States to serve two non-consecutive terms in office (1885–89 and 1893–97). After Grover Cleveland was nominated for a second Presidential run, political tensions in the church flared. Republican members of the church chafed at Rev. Cleveland’s Democratic associations and his brother’s national policies. The feud spilled out into the village and made headlines across the state; the Watertown Daily Times reported that “Chaumont was rent in twain” by fighting Republicans and Democrats. William Cleveland finally resigned his position in 1896 and left Chaumont for Cleveland, Ohio. Three Mile Bay United Methodist Church A Methodist Episcopal congregation formed in Three Mile Bay in 1838, but was not able to build a church until 1854. The building cost $5,000 to construct. Asa Wilcox, renowned Three Mile Bay shipbuilder, may have been the master builder of this church. (During repairs to the steeple in 1932, his name was found chiseled into the timbers.) Wilcox gifted the church with a bell for the belfry. Wilcox’s newly-installed bell had a tragic christening – it was rung for the first time for his son Byron’s funeral. The elaborate steeple was removed in 1953. The Little White Church by the Lake Lyme’s first Methodist Episcopal congregation gathered on Point Peninsula in 1834, but had no permanent home until their church, now commonly known as the Little White Church by the Lake, was built in 1883. The church continues to offer United Methodist services on summer Sundays. The church’s minister in 1914 was Rev. Mr. Benjamin Clearmont. Mr. Clearmont claimed he was a native of Geneva, Switzerland, and that he had formerly been a Catholic priest. He travelled the North Country giving anti-Catholic lectures. In handbills announcing upcoming speeches, he claimed that he would divulge secret evil Catholic practices to his audiences. On March 24, 1914 he was in Potsdam to give a lecture; he was grabbed off the street, bundled in a car, and held against his will for two hours. Nine men were later convicted of his kidnapping, but were given only minor fines. Mr. Clearmont then sued the men for $25,000. That October he was fired from his Point Peninsula ministry; he then sued his former church. Both of his lawsuits seem to have come to nothing and he left the North Country, eventually settling in Arizona. Clearmont’s notoriety brought him to the front page of North Country and Ontario newspapers. It was discovered that he had fabricated most of his history – he was in fact a French-Canadian native of Manotick, Ontario who had never been a Catholic priest and who had no training in any Protestant denomination either. His mother told an Ontario paper that she had not seen him since he had run away from home at age 12. St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church, Chaumont Chaumont’s original Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1874 on land donated by Hiram Copley. (The Masonic Temple now stands on the spot.) After that building burned down on May 8th, 1897 the congregation decided to re-build on Washington Street. The new building was dedicated on December 21, 1897, just in time for Christmas services. The congregation and its funds dwindled until 1941, at which point it merged with, and began meeting at, the Presbyterian Church on Main Street. The Methodist Church building subsequently housed several different congregations. It is currently owned by the Agape House Fellowship Church of LaFargeville, but stands vacant. All Saints Catholic Church, Chaumont
Lyme was 50 years old before a Catholic mass was said in town. That first service, in 1868, was a funeral mass held in a boarding house on Water Street, where a railroad worker had died. A Father Hogan traveled to Chaumont from St. Patrick’s Church in Watertown to perform the mass. The original All Saints building was built on Madison Street in 1896. That building stood until 1930, when it was destroyed in the second huge fire on neighboring Mill Street. The current building was constructed almost immediately after the fire, and was built in much the same style as its predecessor. Sources: · Archives of the Lyme Heritage Center · Archives of the Watertown Daily Times · Archives of the Cape Vincent Eagle · Chaumont Presbyterian Church History, 1831-2006, Compiled by Martin G. Jones · “History of Lyme Churches,” a typed document by “C. Angell” (perhaps Lester C. Angell)
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