This classic pulpit, carved by Colrain cabinetmaker Jesse Lyons (1767-1830) (or possibly his father, David), was used in the North River meetinghouse from 1795-1835. Legend has it that the Rev. Samuel Taggert preached his eulogy of George Washington from that pulpit shortly after the president’s death in 1799. Located north of what later became known as Colrain City, that church folded and disappeared without a trace, and the pulpit was removed to the Brick Meetinghouse, built in 1834. There it was used as the Town Hall moderator’s desk on the ground floor for 70 years until Lorenzo Griswold had it restored and placed upstairs in the “audience room” in 1904. More than 200 years old, the pulpit remains in the Brick Meetinghouse, abandoned as a church since about 1990. There are concerns about the status of the historic pulpit.
