While the Parade Ground beside the Meeting House on Lord’s Hill was not established or referred to as a “Town Common” as some parks and greens in New England towns were, the spirit of the commons was alive and active on November 4, 2018. A baker’s dozen of friends and neighbors of the Meeting House met on a sunny Sunday morning to clear the grounds of leaves and debris and prepare for our Veterans Day Ceremony on Sunday, November 11th.
This quarter-acre parcel with its bandstand, flag pole, and Honor Roll can confuse visitors to Effingham, who often think that arriving at Lord’s Hill, they have reached Center Effingham. But they are either a couple of miles or some hundred years off target. For the Meeting House did serve as the center of town upon its construction in 1798, and for many years maps would refer to this neighborhood simply as ‘Effingham’ while the current day village of ‘Center Effingham’ was called ‘Drakesville.’ In time, the name Lord’s Hill took hold, and has continued in use to this day.