HERMON – Growing from 70 to 250 members in five years, the Hermon Baptist Church was feeling a little cramped inside.

The 133-year-old congregation decided in June on a $500,000 expansion “because of the growing congregation, to provide [for the] recreational and social needs of the church, and to reach out to the youth of the community,” said the Rev. Garnett Chute, pastor.

The project includes a new one-story sanctuary, a basement and other amenities. It is due to be completed by Easter.

The new space, roughly 72 by 62 feet and about 5,000 square feet, will house a large recreation-dining area in the basement, and increased worship space on the first floor, with a new pulpit as well as space for the pastor and choir. With the expansion, the church will be able to accommodate more than 400 people in the building.

The church also is adding a carport to the south side of the building.

Part of the work includes adding a sprinkler system to the entire complex and air conditioning to the new sanctuary, as well as an effort “to reach out more to the youth of the community with a paved basketball court, outside volleyball area, a combination softball-soccer field, and children’s playground,” Chute said.

He said the property and maintenance committee and Plymouth Engineering designed the addition to incorporate the old church and the new. The church is working with D.P. Porter Contractors Inc. to construct the new sanctuary.

The older place of worship will be converted into office space, classrooms, a large entrance area and partial seating for the new sanctuary.

“They’ve done a good job with the sight lines, blending the two together,” said Chute, surveying the work the contractor had started.

“The town of Hermon is growing, and it’s exciting to see the church grow with it,” Chute said.

Parishioners at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Calais began a structural upgrade of their 149-year-old home literally from the ground up.

The first phase of what is expected to be a three-phase project included work under the church, replacing beams and removing loads of rock that had been there for years. The next steps involve more work on the clock tower roof and replacement of pinnacles.

The church’s Web site says plans for the building at 23 Church St. came from James Renwick, who designed the main building of the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The cornerstone of the present St. Anne’s was set on June 10, 1853.

Mainers gather for worship in all sorts of surroundings – and those surroundings are constantly changing. The Bangor Daily News would like to hear about those changes.

Send us, by e-mail or letter, news about your religious community’s home, from a new steeple to a new handicapped-access ramp. News about preservation – of stained glass, woodwork, even Communion silver – is important. So, too, is word about a new basketball court or a donation of choir robes.

Many religious communities do not operate in traditional environments, and news about those places is important. Let us know.

Contact us

Building Blocks is a place in the newspaper to share what’s happening – from the roof down. Send news to Religion Editor, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; or send by e-mail to bdnreligion@bangordailynews.net.