Waits Methodist Episcopal Church and Cemetery is a historic

Methodist Episcopal The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself nationally. In 1939, th ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

and

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

located at what was once known as Waits, in the town of Owego in

Tioga County, New York Tioga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,455. Its county seat is Owego. Tioga County is part of the Binghamton metropolitan area. The county is part of the Southern Tier region of ...

. It is a

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

–style structure built in 1853 of white pine from Windham, Pennsylvania. It is a -story building, three bays wide and four bays deep, measuring approximately 30 feet by 40 feet. The interior was remodeled in 1866 and it retains all of its fabric from that time. Also on the property is a small settlement period cemetery. ''Note:'' This includes an
''Accompanying five photographs''
/ref> It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2000.

History

In 1819, Henry Wait, Sr. purchased 900 acres of land in the

southern tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...

of New York state and south of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

. This farm, and the area surrounding it became known as Wait Settlement, "..which name continued until a post office was established, and the name was changed to Waits. The establishment of a church there had its beginning in about 1837, when the Wait Settlement class was organized. The class held services at the school house until the building of a church in 1853. The class continued to meet until 1852, when a society was formed at the school house on June 9 in that year. The society was incorporated as "The Trustees of the Wait Settlement of the Methodist Episcopal Church." The trustees elected were John Wait (son of Henry, Sr), Nathaniel Goodspeed, W. White, Simmons W. Harden, S. B. Harden, and Henry Wait, Jr. "The deed for the acre of land was not executed until Dec. 5, 1866. The society was incorporated for the second time on June 5, 1865, the same title having been retained. John Wait, James A. Nichols, Henry Dunham, James Olmstead, and Orin D. Nichols were elected as trustees. "The most extensive alterations on the church were made in 1886, which cost $820. The church was reopened on December 15, the Rev. Wilson Treible delivering the dedicatory sermon and the Rev. Mr. H. M. Cryndenwise conducting the dedicatory services."1937 newspaper article titled, "Wait's Church to Celebrate 100th Anniversary and an Old Home Day" clipping from unknown local newspaper

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in New York Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Greek Revival church buildings in New York (state) Churches completed in 1853 19th-century Methodist church buildings in the United States Churches in Tioga County, New York Methodist cemeteries National Register of Historic Places in Tioga County, New York