Cohasset Baptist Church

In 1877, Cohasset pioneer Ira Hume opened the first general merchandise store in Cohasset, supplying the local community as well as the men working for the ridge lumber mills. The store was located along the main Cohasset Road, where Hume homesteaded and planted a peach and cherry orchard. He also donated land for a church and cemetery, located off lower Vilas Road. In 1880 Ira’s son Carl, who passed at the young age of only four years, was the first to be buried in the Cohasset cemetery. In 1896, the Cohasset Baptist Church was built next to the cemetery. Cohasset residents, including those from the Gaumer, Dix, and Kidwell families, preached as lay ministers. Baptisms were performed on the nearby Polk farm, where a small dam had been built to create a pond along Maple Creek. The photo below depicts many of the early Cohasset families, including the names Polk, Hartt, Johnson, Walker, Noe, McCarty, Petterson, Coker, Gibson, and Bodey.

According to an interview with Donald Sorenson, in the 1920s, economic hard times affected Cohasset, and the community was reduced to just 12 families. The old church was forgotten and fell into disrepair. In 1946, Samuel Sorenson donated a modest building to the community for a new church. The old Baptist church provided the siding for the new, modern church, which still stands along the main Cohasset Road, across from the original Sorenson family home.