BRIDGEWATER — The Free Baptist Church on Route 1 will celebrate is 130th anniversary today and Sunday with special services and fellowship times with former pastors.

The celebration weekend will begin with a fellowship supper at 5:30 tonight at the church. A 7 p.m. service will be held with the Rev. Whitfield Curtis, a former pastor, as guest speaker.

On Sunday, the worship service will be held at 10:45 a.m. with the Rev. Kent McMahon preaching. Other pastors also will be participating in the services, including the Rev. Donald Thompson.

At 6 p.m., the concluding services will be held with the sermon by the Rev. Maurice Hutchings.

The current minister, Pastor Clayton Coffin, also will participate in the anniversary services.

The First Baptist Church Bridgewater was established in 1865 by the Rev. W.E. Pennington in the Bunker Hill School House. In 1877 Joseph C. Smith Sr., donated land on the corner of Snow and Main roads. In the spring of 1893, the church was moved to the present site in Bridgewater at a cost of $1,000.

By 1909, the old church would not accommodate the congregation, so a new church was built, costing $6,000, using the old church for a vestry. It was dedicated Jan. 30, 1910.

One of the more familiar names from the roster of former pastors includes the late Rev. Benjamin Bubar, the leader of the Christian Civic League in Maine.