First Baptist Church - 1846 - Suffield, CT - Dated Architectural Structures Multifarious on Waymarking.com

Joseph Hastings believed in greater freedom of thought and worship, in opposition to the established Congregational Church in colonial New England. In 1748 he and a group of followers left the church and later Hastings became an ordained Baptist minister. In 1769, the group erected their first church building on Hill Street, which was three miles from the town center where they were not welcome. In 1793, they replaced their church with a brick building across the street from their original building.

In 1846 they erected the current the First Baptist Church, a white, wooden, Greek Revival style church building at 1217 Hill Street. The façade of the church has central portico entrance supported by four Doric columns. Above is a plain triangular pediment. On the gable roof is a short square tower. The gable roof a short, square belfry tower with rectangular louvered windows on each side. Four triangular projections decorate the corners of the tower's roof.

The south side of the church are three bays wide with tall rectangular windows with green shudders at each bay. The north side has an shorter wing at the third bay. The wind has three bays with windows on the first two bays and an auxiliary entrance at the third bay. The wing is three bays deep with windows at each bay. A brick chimney rises from the gable roof. To the rear of the church is Zion's Hull Cemetery.

An oxidized plaque on the south side of the portico has the history of the church.