Chapel Hill Bible Church
Encyclopedia
Chapel Hill Bible Church, formerly Amity Baptist Church, is a Baptist
house of worship located off Bingham Road near Marlboro
, New York
, United States
. It is a small wooden building in the Picturesque
mode of the Gothic Revival architectural style
dating to the mid-19th century. In 2005 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. It is the southernmost property on the Register in Ulster County
.
It was originally built not on its present site but in what is now midtown Manhattan
, for a congregation
that had split off from another church downtown. In the early 20th century, after it had fallen into disuse, a prominent member of the original congregation who had moved up to Marlboro had the church disassembled and moved to property he owned on a hilltop overlooking the Hudson River
. For two decades it was used for retreats by the Brotherhood of the Kingdom
, a group of Social Gospel
advocates. After another period of disuse later in the century, the current church was organized there in the 1970s.
, roughly a mile and a half (3 km) southwest of the town's major settlement, the unincorporated hamlet of Marlboro
. It is just west of the top of a 500 feet (152.4 m) hill, and 200 feet (61 m) north of the Orange County
line.
All the land in the vicinity of the church is rural, either cleared for use as apple orchard
s or left as intact woodlot
s. A farmhouse faces the church across the driveway. The church's lot is mostly wooded with a wedge-shaped cleared area to the northeast. In this portion a sand-surfaced volleyball
court has been built along the driveway, with some playground equipment present in the warmer months. From the open areas panoramic views of the Hudson Valley
to the east and the Shawangunk Ridge
to the west are available. The driveway bends south through a parking area to the southeast of the church to a small square half-court with basketball hoop on the west. Another parking area is to the northeast. A small, non-contributing modern garage is located at the bend. From it a concrete walkway leads to the church entrance.
wood frame
one-and-a-half–story building on a foundation
of concrete on the front and sides and mortared stone in the rear. The downward slope of the ground exposes the basement on the sides and rear, giving the effect of an additional story. It is sided in brown-stained
cedar shingle
s and topped by a steep gable
d asphalt roof pierced by three small gabled dormer windows on either side east of the gabled transept
, with one shed-roofed three-window dormer set with diamond-pane colored glass on either side to the west. A short bell tower
rises from the east (front) end.
On the east facade
is the main entrance, flanked by pointed-arch tripane windows in wooden surrounds. A small projecting wooden vestibule
shelters the main entrance. It has a gabled roof with the same pitch as the main roof. The gently arched exterior entrance is built of an H-shaped bent with beadboard siding on the exterior, chamfer
ed edges on the inside and intricate quatrefoil
sawn tracery in the gable field above. Lancet window
s are on either side. Above it is an octagonal oculus
.
The side elevations have three windows similar to those on the east between the front and the transept. Below them the basement have three six-over-six double-hung sash window
s. The single bay
extent of the transept has another pointed window on the east and west, with a tripartite grouping of windows on the south end. The north transept has a fire escape
on its east and north end walls, around the single round-arched window on that end. A shed-roofed addition fills the corner on the south side between the transept and the apse
. It has a pointed window on the south face.
The west facade has a basement entrance and tripartite window, again with diamond-paned colored glass, on the apse flanked by pointed windows on the pent-roofed sides, with another octagonal oculus in the rear gable field above where the apse projects. Below the apse the basement is mortared fieldstone
. Windows, a main entrance and a secondary entrance on the south side are trabeated with brick.
is sparely furnished. Gently curved wooden pew
s with scroll armrests and recessed end panels flank the center aisle, leading to the altar. Its wooden flooring is now carpeted; the plaster walls have beaded wainscoting. Above, the wooden truss
es with chamfer
ed lower chords and collar tie
s that frame the roof are exposed. At the end of the aisle is the altar on a raised dais
. On it is a wooden lectern
with Greek Revival
detailing.
Walls separate smaller rooms in the transept
and apse
. The former are small prayer rooms. In the north is a devotional stained glass
window. Inside the entrance to the south room is an intricately carved wooden surround with religious motifs that supports the organ pipe
s.
In the basement are rooms of a support function. This include the kitchen, bathrooms, Sunday school
room and fellowship hall
. The 1902 boiler
installed when the church was moved to the site is still located down there. Finishes are otherwise modern, with linoleum
, plaster and faux-wood paneling walls and dropped ceiling
s.
) in Lower Manhattan
split from that congregation. They rented a hall on Broadway in 1832 so that the young Rev. William R. Williams could conduct services. They made plans to build a church of their own.
Two years later they entered into a lease for some land on Amity Street. On that land they built the original 1834 Amity Street Baptist Church, a temple-style Greek Revival
building with six Ionic
columns along its front facade
. Samuel Dunbar, the architect, is believed to have emulated his earlier design for the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church. Neither building is extant; the lectern
in the current church, whose Greek Revival detailing suggests some of Minard LaFever
's work, may be the only remnant of the original church.
Lower Manhattan's growth and transformation in the early industrial era was rapidly making it less desirable for churches, and many sold their original properties in that area, using the proceeds to buy and build further uptown. Amity Street sold its original property, which was converted
to stable
s, and moved to new grounds on 54th Street
. Since the name was no longer geographically relevant, the congregation became just Amity Baptist Church.
The current church building was probably built as a chapel
or supplementary building on that property around 1860. Its Picturesque
styling, enhanced even further by its original board-and-batten
siding, was then a common mode for many American Protestant
churches. Richard Upjohn
, an Episcopalian
immigrant from England
, popularized the Gothic style for larger churches of his denomination. Baptists found more modestly scaled, restrained versions worked for them stylistically, and many variations were built.
In 1885 Williams died after a half-century of leading the church he had helped found. He left a final message to the congregation: "Pray and trust; love Him and serve Him, ardently and supremely. He will never forsake those who put their trust in him, never." It is written on a wooden plaque that remains in the church's possession.
Leighton Williams took over from his father. He bought the 200 acres (80.9 ha) Marlborough property for retreats from the city in 1893, holding annual meetings of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom
, a group he had helped found along with Social Gospel
proponent Walter Rauschenbusch
, there starting that year, and coming there more often with his wife Nellie after their 1896 marriage. The congregation in New York declined and eventually sold the main church. The chapel remained, and in 1905 Williams had it disassembled and shipped to Ulster County, where it was rebuilt at the current location. He began holding services at what he called Amity Chapel of the Amity Baptist Church, and soon it had one of the largest Sunday school
s in the area. A schedule of weekly services from this era is also among the memorabilia in the church.
In 1914 Williams sold the building and its accompanying land to the trustees of the church for $4,250 ($ in contemporary dollars). The church modernized the building, adding the transept
s on the outside and heating and electric lighting inside. In 1915 the Brotherhood held its last retreat there. At some point past 1919, the year a photograph of the church shows the original board-and-batten siding in place, the current shingled siding was added, most likely with the older siding as furring
.
The trustees turned the church over to a newer group, the Amity Foundation, in 1927. It included the Williamses and other local Baptist pastors. By 1961 many of these founding members had died, the foundation had become inactive and the church was again neglected.
Members of Moulton Memorial Baptist Church in nearby Newburgh re-established the church and foundation in 1962. Services were held under the Rev. Edward Cuthbert for a few years, followed by another period of inactivity. Again in 1973, the foundation re-established the church, this time as the Chapel Hill Community Church. In 1987 it changed its name to the Chapel Hill Bible Church. At one point during the 1990s the congregation had declined to less than ten members, and inactivity threatened again, but it rebounded to the point that the church considered hiring an assistant pastor.
Currently the church holds Sunday school and services on Sunday mornings weekly, with a Wednesday evening Bible study
group. Other ministries have been held on other weekday nights in the recent past. Missionaries
sponsored by the church have served in Africa and Hungary
.
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
house of worship located off Bingham Road near Marlboro
Marlboro, New York
Marlboro is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 2,339 at the 2000 census.Marlboro is in the southeast part of the Town of Marlborough and also the southeast corner of Ulster County.- History :...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is a small wooden building in the Picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
mode of the Gothic Revival architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
dating to the mid-19th century. In 2005 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. It is the southernmost property on the Register in Ulster County
Ulster County, New York
Ulster County is a county located in the state of New York, USA. It sits in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 182,493. Recent population estimates completed by the United States Census Bureau for the 12-month period ending July 1 are at...
.
It was originally built not on its present site but in what is now midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
, for a congregation
Local church
A local church is a Christian congregation of members and clergy.Local church may also refer to:* Local churches , a Christian group based on the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, and associated with the Living Stream Ministry publishing house.* Parish church, a local church united with...
that had split off from another church downtown. In the early 20th century, after it had fallen into disuse, a prominent member of the original congregation who had moved up to Marlboro had the church disassembled and moved to property he owned on a hilltop overlooking the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. For two decades it was used for retreats by the Brotherhood of the Kingdom
Brotherhood of the Kingdom
The Brotherhood of the Kingdom was a group of the leading thinkers and advocates of the Social Gospel, founded in 1892 by Walter Rauschenbusch and Leighton Williams...
, a group of Social Gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
advocates. After another period of disuse later in the century, the current church was organized there in the 1970s.
Buildings and grounds
The church property is a 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) parcel on the west side of an unpaved driveway off the south side of Bingham Road in the southern section of the Town of MarlboroughMarlborough, New York
Marlborough is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 8,263 at the 2000 census. The town was named after the Duke of Marlborough....
, roughly a mile and a half (3 km) southwest of the town's major settlement, the unincorporated hamlet of Marlboro
Marlboro, New York
Marlboro is a hamlet in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 2,339 at the 2000 census.Marlboro is in the southeast part of the Town of Marlborough and also the southeast corner of Ulster County.- History :...
. It is just west of the top of a 500 feet (152.4 m) hill, and 200 feet (61 m) north of the Orange County
Orange County, New York
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...
line.
All the land in the vicinity of the church is rural, either cleared for use as apple orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
s or left as intact woodlot
Woodlot
A woodlot is a term used in North America to refer to a segment of a woodland or forest capable of small-scale production of forest products such as wood fuel, sap for maple syrup, sawlogs, as well as recreational uses like bird watching, bushwalking, and wildflower appreciation...
s. A farmhouse faces the church across the driveway. The church's lot is mostly wooded with a wedge-shaped cleared area to the northeast. In this portion a sand-surfaced volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
court has been built along the driveway, with some playground equipment present in the warmer months. From the open areas panoramic views of the Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
to the east and the Shawangunk Ridge
Shawangunk Ridge
The Shawangunk Ridge , also known as the Shawangunk Mountains or The Gunks, is a ridge of bedrock in Ulster County, Sullivan County and Orange County in the state of New York, extending from the northernmost point of New Jersey to the Catskill Mountains.The ridgetop, which widens considerably at...
to the west are available. The driveway bends south through a parking area to the southeast of the church to a small square half-court with basketball hoop on the west. Another parking area is to the northeast. A small, non-contributing modern garage is located at the bend. From it a concrete walkway leads to the church entrance.
Exterior
The church itself is a cruciformCruciform
Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...
wood frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
one-and-a-half–story building on a foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
of concrete on the front and sides and mortared stone in the rear. The downward slope of the ground exposes the basement on the sides and rear, giving the effect of an additional story. It is sided in brown-stained
Wood stain
A wood stain consists of a colorant suspended or dissolved in a 'vehicle' or solvent. The suspension agent can be water, alcohol, petroleum distillate, or the actual finishing agent...
cedar shingle
Roof shingle
Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat rectangular shapes laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive higher row overlapping the joints in the row below...
s and topped by a steep gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d asphalt roof pierced by three small gabled dormer windows on either side east of the gabled transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
, with one shed-roofed three-window dormer set with diamond-pane colored glass on either side to the west. A short bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
rises from the east (front) end.
On the east facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
is the main entrance, flanked by pointed-arch tripane windows in wooden surrounds. A small projecting wooden vestibule
Vestibule (architecture)
A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...
shelters the main entrance. It has a gabled roof with the same pitch as the main roof. The gently arched exterior entrance is built of an H-shaped bent with beadboard siding on the exterior, chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed edges on the inside and intricate quatrefoil
Quatrefoil
The word quatrefoil etymologically means "four leaves", and applies to general four-lobed shapes in various contexts.-In heraldry:In heraldic terminology, a quatrefoil is a representation of a flower with four petals, or a leaf with four leaflets . It is sometimes shown "slipped", i.e. with an...
sawn tracery in the gable field above. Lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
s are on either side. Above it is an octagonal oculus
Oculus
An Oculus, circular window, or rain-hole is a feature of Classical architecture since the 16th century. They are often denoted by their French name, oeil de boeuf, or "bull's-eye". Such circular or oval windows express the presence of a mezzanine on a building's façade without competing for...
.
The side elevations have three windows similar to those on the east between the front and the transept. Below them the basement have three six-over-six double-hung sash window
Sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels or "sashes" that form a frame to hold panes of glass, which are often separated from other panes by narrow muntins...
s. The single bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
extent of the transept has another pointed window on the east and west, with a tripartite grouping of windows on the south end. The north transept has a fire escape
Fire escape
A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible...
on its east and north end walls, around the single round-arched window on that end. A shed-roofed addition fills the corner on the south side between the transept and the apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
. It has a pointed window on the south face.
The west facade has a basement entrance and tripartite window, again with diamond-paned colored glass, on the apse flanked by pointed windows on the pent-roofed sides, with another octagonal oculus in the rear gable field above where the apse projects. Below the apse the basement is mortared fieldstone
Fieldstone
Fieldstone is a building construction material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally...
. Windows, a main entrance and a secondary entrance on the south side are trabeated with brick.
Interior
The sanctuarySanctuary
A sanctuary is any place of safety. They may be categorized into human and non-human .- Religious sanctuary :A religious sanctuary can be a sacred place , or a consecrated area of a church or temple around its tabernacle or altar.- Sanctuary as a sacred place :#Sanctuary as a sacred place:#:In...
is sparely furnished. Gently curved wooden pew
Pew
A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
s with scroll armrests and recessed end panels flank the center aisle, leading to the altar. Its wooden flooring is now carpeted; the plaster walls have beaded wainscoting. Above, the wooden truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
es with chamfer
Chamfer
A chamfer is a beveled edge connecting two surfaces. If the surfaces are at right angles, the chamfer will typically be symmetrical at 45 degrees. A fillet is the rounding off of an interior corner. A rounding of an exterior corner is called a "round" or a "radius"."Chamfer" is a term commonly...
ed lower chords and collar tie
Collar tie
Collar tie is a grappling clinch hold that is used to control the opponent. It is performed from the front of the opponent by grabbing the opponent by the collar, behind the neck, or behind the trapezius muscle. A collar tie using one hand is called a single collar tie, and a collar tie with both...
s that frame the roof are exposed. At the end of the aisle is the altar on a raised dais
Dais
Dais is any raised platform located either in or outside of a room or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary....
. On it is a wooden lectern
Lectern
A lectern is a reading desk with a slanted top, usually placed on a stand or affixed to some other form of support, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon...
with Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
detailing.
Walls separate smaller rooms in the transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
and apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
. The former are small prayer rooms. In the north is a devotional stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
window. Inside the entrance to the south room is an intricately carved wooden surround with religious motifs that supports the organ pipe
Organ pipe
An organ pipe is a sound-producing element of the pipe organ that resonates at a specific pitch when pressurized air is driven through it. Each pipe is tuned to a specific note of the musical scale...
s.
In the basement are rooms of a support function. This include the kitchen, bathrooms, Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
room and fellowship hall
Fellowship hall
A fellowship hall is a large room in a church building where certain activities in the church building are done, such as certain dinners, breakfasts, meetings, workshops, etc...
. The 1902 boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
installed when the church was moved to the site is still located down there. Finishes are otherwise modern, with linoleum
Linoleum
Linoleum is a floor covering made from renewable materials such as solidified linseed oil , pine rosin, ground cork dust, wood flour, and mineral fillers such as calcium carbonate, most commonly on a burlap or canvas backing; pigments are often added to the materials.The finest linoleum floors,...
, plaster and faux-wood paneling walls and dropped ceiling
Dropped ceiling
A dropped ceiling is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main ceiling. They may also be referred to as a drop ceiling, false ceiling, or suspended ceiling, and are a staple of modern construction and architecture. The area above the dropped ceiling is called the plenum space, as it is sometimes...
s.
History
In the early 1830s, some members of the Oliver Street Baptist Church (now the Mariner's TempleMariner's Temple
Mariner's Temple is a Baptist church at 3 Henry Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York. Originally known as the Oliver Street Baptist Church, it is a brownstone building with Ionic columns.In 1983, Suzan Johnson Cook was appointed as pastor...
) in Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
split from that congregation. They rented a hall on Broadway in 1832 so that the young Rev. William R. Williams could conduct services. They made plans to build a church of their own.
Two years later they entered into a lease for some land on Amity Street. On that land they built the original 1834 Amity Street Baptist Church, a temple-style Greek Revival
Greek Revival architecture
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...
building with six Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
columns along its front facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
. Samuel Dunbar, the architect, is believed to have emulated his earlier design for the Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church. Neither building is extant; the lectern
Lectern
A lectern is a reading desk with a slanted top, usually placed on a stand or affixed to some other form of support, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon...
in the current church, whose Greek Revival detailing suggests some of Minard LaFever
Minard Lafever
Minard Lafever was an influential American architect of churches and houses in the United States in the early nineteenth century.-Life and career:...
's work, may be the only remnant of the original church.
Lower Manhattan's growth and transformation in the early industrial era was rapidly making it less desirable for churches, and many sold their original properties in that area, using the proceeds to buy and build further uptown. Amity Street sold its original property, which was converted
Adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than which it was built or designed for. Along with brownfield reclamation, adaptive reuse is seen by many as a key factor in land conservation and the reduction of urban sprawl...
to stable
Stable
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
s, and moved to new grounds on 54th Street
54th Street (Manhattan)
54th Street is a two-mile-long, one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-West Side Highway:*The route begins at the West Side Highway . Opposite the intersection is the New York Passenger Ship Terminal and the Hudson River...
. Since the name was no longer geographically relevant, the congregation became just Amity Baptist Church.
The current church building was probably built as a chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
or supplementary building on that property around 1860. Its Picturesque
Picturesque
Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England's...
styling, enhanced even further by its original board-and-batten
Batten
A batten is a thin strip of solid material, typically made from wood, plastic or metal. Battens are used in building construction and various other fields as both structural and purely cosmetic elements...
siding, was then a common mode for many American Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
churches. Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...
, an Episcopalian
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
immigrant from England
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
, popularized the Gothic style for larger churches of his denomination. Baptists found more modestly scaled, restrained versions worked for them stylistically, and many variations were built.
In 1885 Williams died after a half-century of leading the church he had helped found. He left a final message to the congregation: "Pray and trust; love Him and serve Him, ardently and supremely. He will never forsake those who put their trust in him, never." It is written on a wooden plaque that remains in the church's possession.
Leighton Williams took over from his father. He bought the 200 acres (80.9 ha) Marlborough property for retreats from the city in 1893, holding annual meetings of the Brotherhood of the Kingdom
Brotherhood of the Kingdom
The Brotherhood of the Kingdom was a group of the leading thinkers and advocates of the Social Gospel, founded in 1892 by Walter Rauschenbusch and Leighton Williams...
, a group he had helped found along with Social Gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
proponent Walter Rauschenbusch
Walter Rauschenbusch
Walter Rauschenbusch was a Christian theologian and Baptist minister. He was a key figure in the Social Gospel movement in the United States of America.-Evolution of Thought:...
, there starting that year, and coming there more often with his wife Nellie after their 1896 marriage. The congregation in New York declined and eventually sold the main church. The chapel remained, and in 1905 Williams had it disassembled and shipped to Ulster County, where it was rebuilt at the current location. He began holding services at what he called Amity Chapel of the Amity Baptist Church, and soon it had one of the largest Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
s in the area. A schedule of weekly services from this era is also among the memorabilia in the church.
In 1914 Williams sold the building and its accompanying land to the trustees of the church for $4,250 ($ in contemporary dollars). The church modernized the building, adding the transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s on the outside and heating and electric lighting inside. In 1915 the Brotherhood held its last retreat there. At some point past 1919, the year a photograph of the church shows the original board-and-batten siding in place, the current shingled siding was added, most likely with the older siding as furring
Furring
In light-frame construction, furring strips are long thin strips of wood or metal used to make backing surfaces to support the finished surfaces in a room. Furring refers to the backing surface, the process of installing it, and may also refer to the strips themselves. "Firring" is a U.K...
.
The trustees turned the church over to a newer group, the Amity Foundation, in 1927. It included the Williamses and other local Baptist pastors. By 1961 many of these founding members had died, the foundation had become inactive and the church was again neglected.
Members of Moulton Memorial Baptist Church in nearby Newburgh re-established the church and foundation in 1962. Services were held under the Rev. Edward Cuthbert for a few years, followed by another period of inactivity. Again in 1973, the foundation re-established the church, this time as the Chapel Hill Community Church. In 1987 it changed its name to the Chapel Hill Bible Church. At one point during the 1990s the congregation had declined to less than ten members, and inactivity threatened again, but it rebounded to the point that the church considered hiring an assistant pastor.
Currently the church holds Sunday school and services on Sunday mornings weekly, with a Wednesday evening Bible study
Cell group
The cell group is a form of church organization that is used in some Christian churches. Cell groups are generally intended to teach the Bible and personalize Christian fellowship. They are always used in cell churches, but also occur in parachurch organizations and other interdenominational...
group. Other ministries have been held on other weekday nights in the recent past. Missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
sponsored by the church have served in Africa and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Ulster County, New York