Thursday, March 25, 2010
Second Place
Congratulations should be extended to the United States Hockey Team that won the Silver Medal in the recent Olympic Games held in Vancouver, Canada. Unfortunately, as the Games fade further and further into history, eventually only historians and statisticians will remember their feat. It’s easy to remember those that come in first, while second and third place finishers are more quickly forgotten. Any marginal hockey fan could tell you who won the 1980 Olympic Hockey Gold Medal but would be hard pressed to tell you who got the Silver.
The same is true with historical facts. If you were to travel to any random history class in Massachusetts and asked what town was the state’s first, most would remember correctly that it’s Plymouth. It is unlikely that the Town Of Weymouth would even enter the conversation, because we have the forgettable distinction of being the Silver Medalist, as the “second” oldest town. We’re proud of that fact though and it’s important that the Weymouth Historical Society remind citizens of this town’s rich historical significance. Who knows better than historians how events, buildings and people shape who we are? Time has a way of slowly deteriorating the importance of historical matters until they finally and permanently slip away into that black hole of the forgotten.
History will forever remember Weymouth’s First Church in North Weymouth, not only because it was the “first”, but also from its ties to the Smith Family and Abigail Smith Adams; but who will remember Weymouth’s second church? The next time you travel through South Weymouth’s Columbian Square you might take note of the tiny island that stands between the Fogg Library and the Fogg Opera Building. This little patch of grass with the stone marker is called Bayley Green and was once a much grander piece of property, as well as a symbol of Weymouth’s struggles with religious identity.
When parishioners of Weymouth’s First Church became disillusioned with their religious teachings, in combination with the church’s distance from the southern end of town, a group decided to form a parish there. The building they eventually took over was known as the Second Parish Meetinghouse and was officially sanctioned by the Commonwealth in 1723. The parish’s first minister was the Reverend James Bayley, who preached and ran the daily operations of the church there for 43 years.
The small parish increased in size and built a church a short way down the street, razing the original. As both the First and Second Parish’s grew in size, several other churches would be formed including the Union Congregational, Pilgrim, Universalist and the Holy Nativity. One of these groups called themselves the Union Society and built a church across the street from the second, Second Meetinghouse in 1853. This church, known as the Old South Church and sometimes called the third meetinghouse stood until 1989 when it was destroyed by fire and a new replica was rebuilt.
The second meetinghouse became a parish house and eventually a parking lot but when the Union Society reunited with the Union Congregational around 1916, it was decided that the parcel of land that housed the original parish would be deeded over to the Town Of Weymouth. By that time the land had already become a victim of “progress” as it was slowly cut into and separated to make way for wider more efficient streets. Part of the agreement with the town was that the property should always be maintained as a “green” and be known as “Bayley Green”, named for its first minister.
Bayley Green was maintained as part of the Weymouth Parks and Recreation Department for many years but the land, once adorned with flower gardens and majestic Elm trees, has slowly been whittled down to a forgotten remnant of its historic past. The only reminder is the stone tablet that is barely noticed by passersby.
The Reverend Bayley, a Harvard graduate, remained in Weymouth his entire life and raised a family of 14 there. When he passed away in 1766, he was originally buried at a burial ground on Pleasant Street but later moved to his present spot in the Highland Cemetery on Main Street. 
Hopefully the little island that bears his name will continue to represent Weymouth’s “Second” Meetinghouse and not become a forgotten victim of time, progress and being “second”.
POSTED BY STAN on March 25, 2010
Notation:The older picture above is from the Everything Weymouth Facebook site. It was probably taken around 1947.
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