Nantucket's 1809 Second Congregational Meeting House, home of the island's iconic gold-domed Town Clock tower, is said to be haunted by its first minister, Seth Freeman Swift, who reportedly scolds noisy children.
11 Orange Street, Nantucket, MA 02554
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Active congregation; meeting house open to visitors during summer hours and for services. Donations welcomed.
Access
Limited Access
Historic 1809 building on a cobblestone-area street; tower not generally accessible to the public.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1809 · Completed 1809; one of Nantucket's defining whaling-era landmarks · Houses the island's celebrated Town Clock and Portuguese bell · Documented in the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey · Continuously active congregation since 1810
The Second Congregational Meeting House, known today as the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House and historically as the South Church, was completed on Orange Street in Nantucket in 1809, with its first sermon delivered on November 12 of that year. Elisha Ramsdell was the builder, and the original square tower rose to roughly the height of the present belfry. The famous Portuguese bell was installed and first rung on December 27, 1815, and the town clock was added to the tower around the autumn of 1821.
The congregation was formally incorporated as the Second Congregational Meeting House Society by act of the Massachusetts legislature in June 1810. Its first minister, Seth Freeman Swift, was ordained on April 27, 1810, and led the congregation until 1833. The society adopted Unitarian theology over the course of the nineteenth century.
By 1830 the original tower had become dilapidated and unsafe, and the society voted to replace it with a new tower that would house the bell, the town clock, and quarters for a fire and storm watch. Timber was imported from Georgia and James Weeks constructed the new tower in 1830, with James Austin coppering the distinctive dome. In 1844 architect F.B. Coleman extensively remodeled the building, raising it to add a vestry and kitchen, gutting and reworking the interior, and adding full-length side windows.
The E. Howard No. 3 flatbed striking clock that powers the four faces of the south tower began operating on May 28, 1881, striking the bell three times a day until the dials were electrified in 1957. The gold-domed tower remains one of Nantucket's most recognizable landmarks, and the meeting house is documented in the Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey.
Sources
According to Nantucket ghost lore recounted by GhostQuest and the island's long-running ghost walks, the Unitarian Meeting House is haunted by the spirit of Seth Freeman Swift, the congregation's first minister, who served from his 1810 ordination until 1833. Churchgoers have reported encountering his presence in the bell tower, and employees working in the old building at night describe disembodied footsteps and banging sounds from empty areas.
The most distinctive thread of the legend is that Swift's ghost appears to discipline children who are too loud, and that children sometimes see him when nearby adults cannot. The Shadowlands seed for this site adds that a portrait of the minister in the basement hall seems to follow viewers around the room and that a disembodied hand has been seen waving from a window; those specific details are single-source and uncorroborated, while the broader tradition of the haunting first minister is repeated across multiple Nantucket sources and tour operators.
The meeting house's age, its prominence as the home of the island's Town Clock, and the gentle, almost paternal character of the legend have made it a regular and well-loved stop on Nantucket's ghost-walk circuit.
Notable Entities
The meeting house is a stop on Nantucket's established ghost walks, which recount the legend of first minister Seth Freeman Swift and the church's haunted tower alongside the island's whaling-era history.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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