NEW SHARON — Longtime members of the New Sharon Congregational Church are coming to terms with auctioning the place where they have worshiped, wed and watched their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren become part of the congregation.

The church and an adjacent building called the “little church,” and over an acre of land at 21 Cape Cod Hill Road will be sold on site at 10 a.m. July 16. An open house will be held from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday.

Leona (Fitch) Carpentier, 70, of Vienna doesn’t want to think about it. She attended the church as a child, was married there and has been a member for decades.

She remembers when she was about 4 years old she used to sit in a back pew with her family in the “big church” and swing her legs occasionally and hit the underside of the pew. Her mother would place her hand gently on her leg and Carpentier said she knew it was time to stop.

Carpentier and her sister, Glenda (Fitch) Raymond, 67, of New Sharon grew up going to the church. They were in the junior choir, the senior choir and involved in other church activities. Her children also went to the church.

Dana Dill, 90, of New Sharon, originally from Phillips, and his late wife, Jessie, were married in the church in 1956. He has been a member for about 50 years. His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren also attended.

The members fondly recalled Vacation Bible School programs and Christmas pageants and sorted through some of the costumes still on the premises.

The church was established in 1801 and burned in 1843.

The brick church was built in the late 1840s and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The smaller church, which has seven rooms, was built in the early 1840s.

The pipe organ was installed in 1912 as a pump organ and later electrified.

As membership dwindled, it got harder and harder to keep the church going, Carpentier said.

There are just eight members left.

For the past 10 years, members have taken turns leading services because there was no pastor.

“We are not dissolving,” Raymond said. “We basically didn’t have the people to maintain the buildings or pay a minister.”

“Everyone wears as many hats as necessary,” Carpentier said.

Dill is a deacon, Carpentier is the clerk and Raymond is the treasurer.

Carpentier, Raymond, Dill and others worked hard to keep the church going and pay the bills. Dill’s son, David Dill, has helped maintain the buildings, Raymond said.

They held baked bean takeout meals that drew up to 70 at a time and helped with finances. When the pandemic hit, they had to stop.

Raymond said the Rev. Marcia Charles, a former pastor, told members “we hadn’t failed but we completed our mission.”

“It is a difficult decision,” Raymond said.

Members held several meetings starting in May 2021 and signed an agreement with Adrian Harris Real Estate, Appraisals and Auctions to sell the property this past fall.

Carpentier said proceeds from the sale will go to charities, the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ, or maybe a mixture.

“It is very sad. This is not easy,” she said.

“It is very difficult,” Raymond added. “It has been quite a process.”

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