Throughout our history, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead has welcomed many prominent persons to speak to us, including both William Ellery Charming and Thomas Starr King. Theodore Parker led a service here, at a time when most Unitarian ministers refused to exchange pulpits with him.

In more recent times, speakers at our church have included George Wald, Nobel prize winner in Chemistry, Noam Chomsky, Rev. William Sinkford, and Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, President of Starr King School for the Ministry.

Three buildings have held our hopes

During our 289 years of history, we have worshipped in three separate church buildings. Our first structure, built in 1716 on a public way that came to be known as New Meeting House Lane, stood until 1831. At that time, just over halfway through John Bartlett's long and prosperous ministry, we decided that a bigger church was needed and the first building was demolished.

Our second building was a prominent Greek Revival edifice built right out to the edge of the sidewalk. The lane had by then been renamed Mugford Street, after one of Marblehead's most illustrious Revolutionary War heroes, whose huge 1777 funeral was held in our church.

The second building stood until the night of October 2, 1910, when a fire that broke out in a nearby boat shop burned it to the ground. The building we love today, with its simple, serene sanctuary (and gorgeous Minister's Office), was built in 1911. By 1960, we had again severely outgrown it, but decided this time not to demolish it and start over. Rather, we successfully petitioned the State Legislature for permission to relocate the ancient graves immediately behind the church to other locations in our churchyard, and constructed a new wing which houses an assembly room, Sunday School classrooms and a church library (now used for meetings and the sale of used books.)

1997 saw another development of sacred space - this time outdoors - with the implementation of the first phase of our beautiful Memorial Garden. [The final phase was finished in 2005.] Here, cremation remains of Church members can be interred in a peaceful, landscape setting suitable for reflection, contemplation and outdoor worship in the Remembrance Circle.