New Haven, Connecticut

 

I am now residing in the town of New Haven, in the colony of Connecticut. New Haven is split by the Quinnipiac River, which is joined by the Mill River as it spills into the New Haven harbor and later in the Long Island Sound. New Haven is also home to famous Yale University, one of the first universities in the colonies.

My name is Stephen Adams, a fledgling preacher who is learning by traveling to several towns in the northeastern colonies. It is early in the year of 1742, and there is a rift happening in this town. There is this religious movement occurring across the colonies, and people are calling it a “Great Awakening”. However, in New Haven, this is causing some people to leave their current churches. Some people are calling the traditional preachers “Old Lights”, and the Great Awakening preachers the “New Lights”. There is a group of people, led by a James Pierpoint, who are attempting to get permission to establish a new church in the New Lights style. Many of the Old Lights preachers are not happy with this. The rumor is that the local court will likely grant Pierpoint permission to form his new church.

It also becoming a trend that the congregants of these New Light churches are much younger that the members of the Old Light. It will be interesting to see how this will effect the future of the Old Light churches.

Several people have told me that Gilbert Tennent has visited New Haven and preached about many of things he said in Newport. Tennent has preached at the Green, which is a common area near the center of New Haven. There are rumors that a new church will be built to the north of the green.


written by Vincent Mule for History 121 at NVCC

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