History of the Dighton Community Church
The stories listed here are only part of those of the hearty workers for independence from the church at the Lower Four Corners, but time and space at present forbids giving others the honor they deserve. The same could be said of other parishioners too numerous to mention here whose contributions to the church life throughout its history after the Revolutionary War were also very substantial.
Repairs had been made and finishing touches added to the meeting hose after the Revolutionary War. It was completed in 1798. The horse mounting block had been in place by the road, and the stone wall with “convenient stepping stones” was built at a parish “bee”. In 1821 the Revere bell was purchased. A delegation from Dighton went to the bell foundry in Canton to see the metal poured into the mold, and, as the metal ran, threw fifty silver dollars into the stream to give it a richer tone. When the bell was ready, two yoke of oxen were sent to draw it from Canton to Dighton. It was hung in a small shed in the church yard where it was rung every evening at nine o’clock. In 1827 the tower and steeple were constructed in the church yard and then raised by ship’s tackle. The corner posts of the tower are gigantic uprights, hand hewn, twelve inches square and sixty feet long. The Revere bell was moved to the belfry and is still in use.
The completion of the church in 1798 and the additions in 1821 and 1827 were made possible by the gift from Sylvester Richmond of a wood lot in the west part of the town near the present Dighton-Rehoboth High School. Timber worth two thousand dollars was immediately sold. Six hundred dollars completed the building and the remainder was reserved as a ministerial fund. After selling timber from this lot several times, the Society sold the land partly to the Regional High School and partly to the New England Power Company.