All 50 States: Attend a Church Service

Standing in front of the pulpit at West Parish of Barnstable UCC, West Barnstable, Massachusetts, May 12, 2024

As I began my quest to visit all 50 states, I found myself doing the same activities in each state. One of those activities was attending a church service on many a Sunday morning. Having grown up in a Protestant church, I patronized Christian churches, mostly Protestant, but with a few Catholic churches included. I picked only three of the churches deliberately (Georgia and Virginia being the others), with most visits being determined by where I was staying or traveling.

On Mother’s Day 2024, I reached the goal of having attended a church service in all 50 states. Number 50? The West Parish of Barnstable United Church of Christ, located just off US 6 in West Barnstable. It is the oldest* church on Cape Cod, having been chartered in 1616 in England and emigrating to Massachusetts after they were released from prison. (*The dispute is with another UCC congregation in nearby Sandwich. That congregation came over before the West Parish congregation but did not charter themselves until they arrived. West Parish’s church building dates from 1717, the Sandwich building is newer and made the cover of an Elvis gospel album.) West Parish began as a Congregationalist church – its 1717 sanctuary has box seats (literally a pew in the middle of a boxed off area) and a pulpit that towers above the pews. Otherwise the sanctuary seems rather plain. (If interested in this architecture, look up pictures of the Old North Church and the South Meetinghouse in Boston, probably the two most famous.)

Having wandered into churches most of my adult life, I decided to fully embrace this opportunity. I signed the guestbook and noted that this visit was #50. I accepted a name tag from the women greeters, and I spoke to many of those circulating before the service. Everyone was welcoming and gave me a “Visitors” gift bag. The preacher, Rev. Reed Baer, preached a sermon on social activism – of the Blessed are the Peacemakers variety. After the sermon I walked upstairs to the balcony and waited for the crowd to disperse. Rev. Baer gave me more information about the church’s history and took the picture you see at the top of this entry. He was tickled by my achievement, but I didn’t want to delay him too long from the rest of his ministerial duties. I took a few pictures of the exterior and went on my way.

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Other interesting experiences from my church visits:

1. Georgia (2003) – I attended Sunday School lessons with President Jimmy Carter at Marantha Baptist Church in Plains. I stayed for the church service afterwards, as well.
2. Virginia (2006) – I attended one of the last services at the old location of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg. Rev. Jerry Falwell did his best to scuff the line between church and state, exactly the way I expected he would. I stayed out of the view of the cameras.
3. Colorado (2017) – The Stillwater Cowboy Church, Fruita – my first cowboy church experience. The entire service lasted 45 minutes. As it was Memorial Day weekend, we were asked to greet one of the veterans in the audience.
4. Delaware (2013) – First and Central Presbyterian, Wilmington – I attended an Easter breakfast before the service, allowing me to cross off another goal of mine – “Eat a meal with complete strangers.”
5. Iowa (2011) – First Federated, Lisbon – I came into town while the power was still out after a storm. As a result, everyone in the small church had to sit in the first few pews until the lights came back on. Liturgically this church followed the pattern of taking an Old Testament and a New Testament scripture and try to weave them together. Refreshingly, this is the only time I have heard the preacher say that he had no clear idea how they were connected. (I think other pastors have given it their best try.)
6. Nebraska (2015) – Dundee Presbyterian, Omaha – this is the church Warren Buffett grew up in. But I could tell that he has since left the faith, or at least given his money elsewhere. The church was on my route to the College World Series that afternoon.
7. Idaho (2013) – Community Presbyterian, American Fork – I was asked by a member how I found the church. I responded that I had used Google and then filtered out all LDS and Catholic churches. Her response: “You had only one other option, didn’t you? That community church over in Lindon?”
8. I have attended church services with various friends and family members, most of whom had no idea they were helping reach this goal.

To Cape Cod and Rhode Island

Nauset Light Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, May 11, 2024

In mid-May 2024 I took a weeklong trip to visit Cape Cod, and surrounding areas. I opted to fly into Providence, Rhode Island, adding a day on each end of my trip to experience some of the Ocean State. Here are some of the highlights of my trip.

Rhode Island at the beginning of the trip: After flying into Rhode Island, I drove to the campus of the University of Rhode Island in Kingstown. I watched a game at Bill Beck Field, an on-campus ballpark with no lights and few amenities. There is a small press box and a bleacher section behind the plate. Most fans chose to bring lawn chairs and sit behind the fences. It was windy and chilly. It threatened to rain all game, but never did. The University of Rhode Island lost to the visitors from the University of Richmond 3-2, scoring their runs on a pair of back-to-back solo home runs in the fourth inning. It was my first collegiate baseball game in Rhode Island. I stayed overnight Friday and started Saturday with breakfast at the Blue Plate Diner in Middletown, one of several diners near Newport.

Saturday I drove from Kingstown to Cape Cod. The traffic picked up on US 6, particularly after crossing on to the Cape. Since it is still the off-season, the traffic thinned as I approached Dennis and even fewer as I moved passed Orleans. I stopped for my second Massachusetts haircut at Roger’s Barber Shop in North Eastham. And then visited the Cape Cod National Seashore, starting with the Salt Pond Visitor Center. I drove out to the ocean beaches of Nauset Light Beach and Coast Guard Beach. The winds were cold and fairly strong and the surf looked fairly angry. I walked along Nauset Light Beach until my fingers started to feel numb. I walked around the Coast Guard station at Coast Guard Beach, and saw a wedding ceremony conclude, with the wedding party quickly returning to their vehicles. I was drawn to the ocean beaches due to the writings of Henry David Thoreau and others.

Sunday I took care of a few unfinished activities in Massachusetts. I attended church services at the West Parish of Barnstable UCC in West Barnstable, the oldest* church on Cape Cod. (*The dispute stems from whether the congregation’s English charter makes it older than the church in Sandwich, whose congregation arrived first but waited to formally organize with a colonial charter.) The service at West Parish made Massachusetts the 50th state in which I have attended a church service. (More to follow in a separate blog entry.) Sunday afternoon I watched a movie at Entertainment Cinemas in South Dennis, the first movie I had watched in Massachusetts.

Monday I returned to the Cape Cod National Seashore. I drove to North Truro and climbed the 69 steps to the top of the Highland Light. The Highland Light was the first one built, and the current version was moved back from the rapidly eroding cliff. The beacon has been replaced by an LED light and serves local pleasure craft as far as ten miles offshore. I returned to Nauset Light Beach as well, enjoying much better weather Monday afternoon.

Monday afternoon I visited the JFK Hyannis Museum in downtown Hyannis. The museum celebrates the Kennedy family’s home in nearby Hyannisport, and was curated by the family. It focuses on the President and Jackie, but also has displays for Bobby and John F. Kennedy Jr.

Tuesday I left Cape Cod and drove north. I spent much of the day at the Plimouth Patuxet Museums in Plymouth. There is a recreated 17th century English settlement and Wampanoag lodges, reflecting the joint name of the museum. (Patuxet is the name of the abandoned Native American village near the Pilgrim’s settlement.) The museum includes a colonial-style gristmill and a replica of the Mayflower in downtown Plymouth. I was struck by the small size of the ship. It would have been unbelievably cramped with all the colonists. While the Mayflower seemed small, I was truly underwhelmed by Plymouth Rock. From my American history classes I had come to expect a rock formation along the shore, or maybe a big boulder. Instead Plymouth Rock (given its own shrine in Pilgrim Monument State Park) looks to be roughly the size of a common garden boulder, one that could be carried off by a few enterprising fellows.

Wednesday and Thursday I stayed in Worcester, in central Massachusetts. I was there mainly to see the Worcester Red Sox minor league baseball team. (When planning the trip I found it was too late to see college baseball, it was too early for the Cape Cod summer league, and I didn’t feel like navigating Boston into Fenway Park. Worcester is currently the only affiliated minor league team in Massachusetts.) The “WooSox” moved to town from Pawtucket in 2021 and play in Polar Park in downtown. Polar Park is a jumble of architectural styles (creating a disjointed concourse) that may be smoothed out when surrounding developments are completed. Besides requiring fans to take an elevator/stairs from the home plate entrance to the concourse, the park’s other remarkable features include the ability to watch trains pass on a trestle level with the upper deck and a Worcester Wall in right field built to the dimensions of Fenway’s Green Monster. The game I watched was an 11:15AM start and was both a School Field Trip Day and First Responder Wednesday. The kids were put in the outfield and left field corner, leaving most of the grandstand to us “regular” fans. The game itself was a pitcher’s battle and moved quickly. The visiting Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders defeated Worcester 1-0, after managing to string together two hits in the seventh inning.

Friday was a travel day for me. Before leaving Worcester, I stopped at one of the town’s many diners, the Kenmore Diner behind Union Station. On my way back to Providence, I stopped at the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The museum celebrates the town’s textile heritage and the French-Canadian workers.

My Official State Activities Scorecard (and number of states in which I have done each):

• Haircut – Roger’s Barber Shop, North Eastham. My second haircut in Massachusetts (the first was in Boston in 2017).
• Church (all 50!) – West Parish of Barnstable UCC, West Barnstable, Mass.
• Move (49) – “Nowhere Special” at Entertainment Cinemas, South Dennis, Mass.
• Baseball (46) – Worcester Red Sox (Class AAA)
• Complete State Sets (43) – Massachusetts