HISTORY OF ORANGE
Samuel Treat, David Nettleton, and John Bryan were appointed a committee "to make enquiry and to report of what materials, of what dimensions and in what manner will be best to build said house." Mr. Samuel Treat offered to give the Society land enough to set the house upon, provided that it was put on the corner of his lot, and take no more of his land.
At a Society's meeting, held on December 18, 1808, it was voted to accept the above offer, and that the surplus money in the Treasury which arose from the tax on the list of 1808 be paid over to Mr. Samuel Treat for land to be leveled for a Green.
It was voted that the ''house be fifty feet in length and forty feet in width, also that there be a steeple built with the house. Also, that the house be arched, and that the pulpit be built at one end of the house, and the door or doors at the other. Also that the steeple be built in the most fashionable style." There was much discussion as to the material, whether it should be of brick or wood. It was finally voted to build of wood. The building committee was empowered to buy the timber needed to complete the building after procuring all they could by donation.
The building was raised on the 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th days of June, 18 10. That it took four days is not surprising to one who has seen the timbers that went into the frame. The posts are of oak, ten inches square, and so perfectly hewed that they look as if they had been planed. Even the ridge-pole is seven inches square, and the other timbers are proportional in size and equally perfect in finish.
David Hoadley, the architect, who was famous for his churches, drew the plans for the building. His bill of $825.00 was the largest item on the total cost of the structure.
An amusing anecdote has come down through the years concerning the ridge-pole. The building committee canvassed the town to find the right kind of tree, which
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