New Life, New Hope, New Mission!    

A Little Local Presbyterian History...

First Presbyterian, Pioneer Valley, has been around since 1743, when the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, granted township to Pelham as a group of Scottish settlers, whom had found Ireland unsuitable, cleared the land and built a meetinghouse.  This was one of the two founding Presbyterian villages in Western Massachusetts (the other was in Colrain).  The Scottish group had emigrated from Ulster County, Ireland, to Boston, and built a meeting house in Worcester that soon burned, before settling in Western Massachusetts.

The picture to the right is of the first Presbyterian church in Western Massachusetts.  It is also presumed to be the oldest Presbyterian structure in the United States.  Today it is used as the Pelham Town Hall.  You can visit it on Sunday afternoons in the summer.  It is on US 202 (10 miles north of our current land), at the flashing yellow light. 

Later, in 1887, the group emerged in Holyoke, and received its second chartered, this time from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

Today we are on a mission to welcome new people into a community of relevance, vibrancy, and hope, where Jesus is Lord, people have purpose, and families find strength.

The new building will be central to the Pioneer Valley. It will be in Granby, Massachusetts, along US 202.   It is accessible from Holyoke (5 miles), South Hadley (2 miles), Belchertown (8 miles along US 202),  Chicopee (3 miles from MA 33-Memorial Drive), Amherst, Pelham, and Hadley (8-15 miles along from MA 116).  Check out the building plans and site.

Updated: 09/29/08