First Free Will Baptist Church and Vestry First Free Will Baptist Church and Vestry The First Free Will Baptist Church and Vestry (also known Miss Perkins' High School and Holderness Academy) are an historic Free Will Baptist Church complex at 57 Main Street in Ashland, New Hampshire. The complex consists of three buildings: the brick church building, which was built in 1834; the old vestry, a brick building standing near the street which was built c. 1835 as a school and converted to a vestry in 1878; and the new vestry, a wooden structure added in 1899 to join the two brick buildings together. The church, a
Vestry all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish, in the 17th century the huge growth of population in some parishes, mostly urban, made it increasingly difficult to convene and conduct meetings. Consequently, in some of these a new body, the select vestry, was created. This was an administrative committee of selected parishioners whose members generally had a property qualification and who were recruited largely by co-option. This took responsibility from the community at large and improved efficiency, but over time tended to lead to governance by a self-perpetuating elite. This committee was also known as the "close vestry", whilst the term