The date of the joint covenant between the town and the church for dividing up the common was 1978. There was an ice storm in May 1977. Some tree surgeon convinced the town the several of the trees on the common had been damaged, and sent in crews to start cutting them down. Bill Schultz (the minister then) arrived on the scene, and got them to stop, but not before several trees had been removed. The town then dug up the front of the common, and it was a mess for the summer of '77. After long negotiations, the agreement was made over that winter (so it may have even been late '77, but I think it was '78), and the town put in sprinklers and sod in the spring of '78.

Charlotte Evans Hotchkiss, 3/12/99

P.S. I thought I remembered pews in the choir area when I was a kid, which was certainly after 1848.