The doors of the Howard Valley Church have opened and closed several times in its 175 year history. Built in 1843 to serve Hampton’s Baptist population, “that little white church in the dell” was first known as the Burnham Baptist Church for its deacon and for thirty of its members. The Little River, which runs behind the church, was used for baptisms. In “Hampton Remembers”, John Hammond recalls: “Down in Howard Valley just beyond the church there’s a lane turns in there goes in across the river and there’s a little pond back in there where there was a grist mill and cider mill, and I’ve been there and seen people baptized from the Howard Valley Church – that was a Baptist church – dipped them in the pond there.”
The Little River also facilitated the development of Howard Valley as a “thriving community of mills, stores and homes”, historian Jean Wierzbinski noted in a 2012 article on the church’s history. However, with rural populations declining as people migrated to industrial towns such as Danielson, Putnam and Willimantic, toward the end of the 19th century there were not enough parishioners to warrant regular services at the Howard Valley Church. That did not prevent worshipers from using the building. Christian reformers such as a passionate group of Abbe-ites met in the church, as well as Methodists and Presbyterians at times, and in 1916, through the efforts of Reverend Ebenezer Jewett and Deacon William Ashley to revitalize the Howard Valley Church, its doors re-opened to Baptists in 1916.
Through the years after its eventual closing, the church offered a couple of services annually, including one on Christmas Eve when the church would fill with Hampton families. The candlelit service consisting of scripture interspersed with carols and a Christmas story was charming, and evoked a simpler time, a rare serenity, and a tender neighborliness. Though circumstances prevent the church from hosting a service this year, that circumstance shouldn’t prevent us from following its examples of hope, peace and togetherness: light a candle, share stories, sing some songs.