Self Guided Tour of St. Paul's Church

Interior of St. Paul's Church, at St. Paul's Church N.H.S., in Mt. Vernon, NY.

National Park Service

Self-Guided Tour of St. Paul's Church

Welcome to St. Paul’s Church. Staff is available for questions and guidance.

In 1763, the people of Eastchester, New York began building the present stone and brick church building of St. Paul’s. It was an upgrade, a replacement for a small wooden meetinghouse building, which stood about 80 yards west of the current church. Design of the church was inspired by the edifices built around London following the Great Fire of 1666. Local masons assisted by craftsmen from New York City built the church. As a public project of the town, funds were drawn from regular taxation revenues, supplemented with lotteries.

A large undertaking for a relatively small town, the church was not complete when the political and military disruption of the American Revolution halted construction. Yet, even in its unfinished form, the church was the largest, most centrally located building in the vicinity, and it became the obvious location for a field hospital during local campaigns. It was used by the American, British and Hessian armies. The need for firewood as fuel by those forces led to the complete disassembling of the older meetinghouse by the war’s conclusion.

At the return of peace in 1783, town residents, now Americans, resumed construction and by 1787-8 they had completed the building for use as a house of worship and various municipal activities. Sales to families of space beneath the private, high-walled pew boxes were an important source of income used to cover final construction costs. It was officially named St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in 1795, and a ceiling and interior plaster on the walls was added in the early 1800s. In 1942, the interior of the church was restored to its original, late 18^th century appearance, which you see today. It remained a house of worship through the late 1970s, when it was gifted to the Federal Government.

Points of Interest: As you proceed around the church, clockwise, please take note of these special features. See our website, www.nps.gov/sapa, for further explanations and also please visit our Facebook page to see short documentary/videos exploring these interesting topics.

Model: The model was built and displayed in 1865 to celebrate 100th anniversary of the erection of St. Paul’s and the 60th anniversary of the consecration of the church. The models show the exterior of the church as it appeared in 1865, including a wooden cupola topped with a weather cock. It was replaced in 1887 with the current brick and stone steeple, topped with a cross.

Wooden tablets: They represent the Word, received divine wisdom accepted by most Protestants-- the Lord’s prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Apostle’s creed, an early statement of Christian belief that dates to the 5^th century. Their installment here in 1848, relatively late for an Episcopal Church, represented the church first religious display of any kind. The parish had previously adhered to Protestant beliefs that held such representations as false and idolatrous.

Sanctuary lamp: This pewter lamp was created in the 19^th century, and originally hung in a synagogue in Landau, Germany, where it represented a Ne’r Tamid, an eternal light. It was transported to America in the mid 1800s. The lamp was passed down through the generations, and presented by a member of the Ochs-Sulzberger family, which owned The New York Times, to St. Paul’s in August 1944. The gift recognized the site’s connection to the origins of the free press in America, based on the landmark election of 1733. Here at St. Paul’s, it represented the Blessed Sacrament.

Bolton chair: This finely carved oak chair was constructed in England in 1639, transported to America in the 1830s, and donated to St. Paul’s in 1910 by Adele Bolton, in memory of her father, who had been the St. Paul’s minister from 1837-1844.

Organ: The small pipe organ in the gallery was constructed in the early 1830s at the shop of Henry Erben in New York City. Largely original, it is one of the nation’s oldest working organs, recognized as an instrument of exceptions merit by the Organ Historical Society. The relatively small console consists of 58 ivory covered keys and eight stops which frame the keyboard; but its sweet and robust sounds seem well suited to a church of this size. Concerts are still performed on the historic instrument.

Pews: The tall-walled boxed pews visible in the church today were part of the restoration of 1940-42. In the 18th century, they were necessary to accommodate use of the building in the winter, at a time of no heat, ceiling or insulation. Families brought small, rectangular foot warmers -- made of metal and wood -- filled with hot embers from their fireplaces, and placed them on the floors of the pews, where the box walls contained the heat. Pews were generally divided based on the amount a family donated to the church, with the higher pledge warranting a pew closer to the pulpit. Plaques with names accurately reflect family pew occupation in 1787-8, based on the original seating diagram.

Pulpit: In the 18th century, the pulpit was the focus of the service. The “clerk” occupied the enclosed box at the floor level; he led the singing of psalms or hymns and used the “church tickler” as necessary to rouse parishioners who might doze during the sermon. The minister read Scripture and led prayers from the middle level and mounted the top deck when preaching the sermon.

Hospital, at western alcove: Items on the table – authentic replicas -- represent the kinds of surgical tools that would have been present during the Revolutionary War, when St. Paul’s was used as a field hospital, by both sides, at different times. Note, at center, the ball remover and the probe directly next to it, and the amputation saw at the far right.

Bell: The yellow rope is connected to the small bronze bell atop the steeple. It was constructed in 1758 at the same London steeple as the famed Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, a connection that the church began to emphasize in the late 19^th century. The bell was removed and hidden during the Revolutionary War to prevent its confiscation and possible use as military material.

Sara Roosevelt Tablet: On the wall at left, this beveled, granite plaque, 34” x 45”, honors Sara Roosevelt, the mother of President Franklin Roosevelt, for her efforts to raise funds for the restoration of the church. It was dedicated in December 1942, a year after her death.