First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston
Encyclopedia
The Old Dutch Church, officially known as the First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Kingston, is located on Wall Street in Kingston
, New York, United States. Formally organized in 1659, it is one of the oldest continuously existing congregations in the country. Its current building, the fifth, is an 1852 structure by Minard Lafever
that was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 2008, the only one in the city. The church's 225 feet (68.6 m) steeple
, a replacement for a taller but similar original that collapsed, makes it the tallest building in Kingston and a symbol of the city.
Lafever's building was described by Calvert Vaux
as "ideally perfect". It is unique among his work as his only Renaissance Revival church that largely retains the original design, and the only stone
church he is known to have built. Its interior includes stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany
's company, and an extensive M.P. Moller pipe organ
After a few early renovations, and the collapse of the higher original steeple, it has remained largely intact since 1892, although there have been continuing issues with one of the walls. One of the congregation's previous churches is across neighboring Wall Street. The church grounds also include a small cemetery with most of the burials predating its construction. Among them is George Clinton
, a former governor and U.S. Vice President.
The church has been active in Kingston's civic life. During the Revolutionary War
George Washington
paid a visit due to the church's strong support for the Patriot
cause, and wrote a thank-you note exhibited in the church today. An annual dinner is held to commemorate the visit. George H. Sharpe
raised a Civil War
regiment at the church, and later erected a monument in the churchyard to those volunteers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and members of the Dutch royal family
, among other notables, have visited the church. It has also been the site of memorials to tragedy from the assassination of William McKinley
to September 11, 2001.
at the east of uptown Kingston. It is a contributing property
to the Stockade District
. Main, Fair and Wall streets surround it on three sides; the north has some two-story commercial buildings. The old Ulster County
courthouse is just to the northwest, across Wall. Amid a cluster of buildings on the south, across Main Street, is the building the current church replaced, now a Catholic church. Most of the neighboring buildings support the church's historic character, dating to the 19th or early 20th centuries.
Tall shade trees surround the building and shelter its cemetery. An iron fence with stone posts encircles most of the property. Flagstone
walks lead to the primary entrance on the south side and around the building, where another one leads from the tower entrance to Wall Street.
, set in a random ashlar
pattern with limestone
trim. It consists of a main sanctuary
building oriented north-south with an east-west lecture hall
wing on the north end and attached multi-stage bell tower
at the northwest corner. The gable
d roof is clad in raised-seam metal, with a modillioned wooden cornice
. It is pierced by skylights corresponding to the exterior windows, currently covered in plastic, justy above the roofline.
Fenestration
on both side profiles consists of five large round-arched stained glass
windows framed by molded
limestone casings with bracketed
sills. On the east in the center is an engaged buttress
added to shore up the wall. A three-bay
projecting pavilion
on the west supports the bell tower. Its entrance is a single door with round-arched window above and on the sides. Its lowest stage is a three-story masonry tower with wooden cornices separating the stories, topped by three frame
ones above a curved cornice. The lower two are octagonal, one featuring a clock and the next louver
ed round-arched vents. The uppermost stage, the conical steeple
, has ribs defining its eight facts and is covered with diamond-shaped wooden shingles
. Kingston's city ordinances prohibit the construction of any building taller than its base in the Stockade District.
The lecture hall addition on the north is similar to the main church block. It is a two-story bluestone structure with slate
roof, mostly shielded from view by the church and adjacent buildings.
A similar projecting gabled pavilion
, with battered corners, on the Main Street side frames the main entrance. Two bluestone steps with iron railings lead up to a pair of slightly recessed paneled wooden doors topped by a fanlight
with tracery. The limestone surround is topped with a keystone
. Limestone is also used for the corner bases and courses
at ground level and continuing the cornice line at that level. Similarly appointed but smaller doors flank the main entrance.
a small display case
contains items of significance from the church's history: the first communicants' tablet, and a letter from George Washington
thanking the congregation for its hospitality to him on a 1782 visit (This is reportedly his only writing during the entire eight years of the Revolutionary War
that mentions any religious institution.) Across from the main entrance three round-arched doors corresponding to those on the outside lead into the main sanctuary.
The sanctuary itself is painted off-white, with the stained glass windows, red carpeting, gilding
and mahogany trim of the pews providing a contrast. Corinthian
columns, creating lateral arcades
, provide corbel
ed support to groin vault
s. The arcading partially encloses the balcony. A simulated clerestory
level is illuminated by the skylights supplemented by electric lighting in the original wall sconce
s. The walls themselves are plaster on lath
with beaded wainscoting ending in a chiar rail.
A raised wooden platform supports the pulpit
, carved with some classical motifs such as rectangular, rounded lozenges and foliation, some of it gilded, echoing the wall behind it. It has two front piers that resemble anta
e. On the wall above the pulpit is a Palladian Tiffany stained glass window depicting the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
framed by gilded moldings and flanked by pairs of fluted
Corinthian pilaster
s. Bronze statues of angels are on either side.
On the south wall is a choir loft with the church's pipe organ
. It is in a case with another Palladian motif and carvings similar to those in the pulpit, and also framed with fluted Corinthian pilasters. A large swan-necked broken pediment
is atop the case.
The church's box pews have hinged doors, scrolled armrests and seat cushions. They all face forward on the ground floor except for the two rows in the front. On the upstairs galleries they face the opposite wall. Metal and marble memorial plaques
line the walls, and a door on the northwest side leads to the tower vestibule.
s, many of which predate the current church. The stonework on many is detailed and high in quality. 1710 is the earliest date for which one is legible, but church records show burials as early as 1679, and some that have not yet been translated may have taken place earlier. Not all graves were marked. The most recent stone dates to 1832.
At least 70 of the stones are believed to be Revolutionary War-era veterans. George Clinton
, former governor
and U.S. Vice President
under Thomas Jefferson
and James Madison
, is buried here under a large obelisk
in the churchyard's southwest corner. He was moved here from Washington
in 1908 and reburied in a full ceremony. Another large monument to "Patriotism
" in the southeast corner honors the volunteers of the 120th New York Infantry during the Civil War
. It was commissioned by George H. Sharpe
, a Kingston native and colonel of volunteers for the 120th.
W. Barksdale Maynard says it "reveals
an experienced architect at the height of his powers, broadening his approach beyond the Greek Revival
he had done so much to popularize." The style may have also appealed to the church's congregation as a way of distinguishing itself architecturally within the city from the Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston
, an offshoot church which had built a new Gothic Revival church nearby in 1850. It also may have been preferred as it made the church building look older than it actually was.
Lafever abandoned the classical symmetry he had used for earlier churches such as the Old Whaler's Church in Sag Harbor
for the church's exterior, preferring the more Picturesque
choice of putting the tower on the side. The projecting front pavilion on the Main Street side creates the appearance of superimposed gables, much like those on the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore
in Venice
. Eclecticism was another aspect of the Picturesque
that showed up in Lafever's design. The battered piers at the corners give the main block and front pavilion a slight Egyptian Revival
feel, as well as adding mass.
The interior of the church follows English Renaissance
forms popularized by Christopher Wren
and James Gibbs
, particularly some aspects of the latter's St Martin-in-the-Fields
, which again may have been chosen by the congregation to distinguish themselves from the Second Reformed Church. By using such a consciously English model, the church's congregation signaled the full assimilation
of Dutch Americans, many of whom had continued to speak Dutch
for some years after independence, into the predominantly English-influenced
culture of the mid-19th century United States. He used a 3:5:7 ratio for the proportions, representing the Trinity
, the human sense
s and the days of Creation respectively. Calvert Vaux
, when declining a commission for a new pulpit at the church three decades later, called its forms and symmetry, "ideally perfect".
For the first 170 years of its existence it was the only church in Kingston, and the only Dutch Reformed Church for much of the west side of the Hudson River
. Fifty other churches in the region were started under its auspices. Its birth, marriage and death records are complete to 1660, making it one of the oldest such collections in the country and an important resource for genealogists
.
Like many churches, the Old Dutch Church began with informal meetings, in its case starting around May of 1658, when Kingston was still known as Wiltwyck, part of the Dutch colony
of New Netherland
. Jacob Stoll, a local settler, led services for 11 others in his house in the absence of an ordained
minister or actual building. The following year it was formally organized, and in 1660 received its first dominie
, or minister, Hermanus Blom. A parsonage was built at the order of Peter Stuyvesant
in 1662. It was used as a school and court as well, and possibly an Indian trading post
.
Church lore holds that a crude log meetinghouse, built into the stockade
that had been built around the small city, was erected near the current location in 1661, although whether it was there has been disputed. Any structure that did exist was destroyed in 1663 during the Second Esopus War. By 1680 a small stone building was in use there. Records of the time describe it as 60 feet (18.3 m) wide long and 45 feet (13.7 m) wide. A later history notes that it was extravagantly furnished for the time and place with stained glass
windows bearing coats of arms
.
Services of that era were austere and lengthy, conducted in strict accordance with Calvinist
beliefs. On the Sabbath day, liquor consumption, discharge of firearms and beating of drums were forbidden, with steadily escalating penalties starting at one Flemish pound
. The church itself was unheated, due to fears of fire. Some congregants brought small stoves to warm their feet in winter. They sat in seats on either side of the sanctuary. A Vorleser (reader) and Vorsanger (music leader) assisted the minister. There were no books for the audience since many were illiterate. The church did not have an organ since they were considered a work of the devil.
After the Second Anglo-Dutch War
, the 1667 Treaty of Breda turned New Netherland over to the English, and Wiltwyck became Kingston. The trustees of the Kingston Patent
generously funded the church, by transferring to it a thousand acres (400 ha) in the north of the town, which the church subdivided and sold.
In 1712 the church requested a royal charter; seven years later it was granted by King George I
in exchange for a peppercorn
in rent every year. Two years later, in 1721, it was expanded, early in the half-century tenure of Dominie Petrus Vas. A doop huys, a sort of chapel
, was built to handle baptism
s, meetings and other consistorial activities. Vas would, three decades later, oversee the construction of a second church building. Surviving prints show a gambrel-roofed meetinghouse two bays wide with a tower on the front. Its siding seems to have been limestone
rubble, although the first print shows a material that could be either in a coursed
ashlar
pattern or parging to mimic coursed stone. Fenestration consisted of three round-arched windows along the sides. It was dedicated on November 29, 1752, by Georg Wilhelm Mancius, Vas's assistant.
In October of 1777, the church, like many other buildings in the city, was damaged by fires set by British forces
retaliating against the recently proclaimed capital of the independent state of New York after the Battle of Saratoga
. It was gutted, but the walls still stood. The congregtation strongly supported the Patriot
cause throughout the war. In 1782, George Washington
, garrisoned near Newburgh
to the south, visited the church. He enjoyed his visit enough that he wrote the congregation the letter of thanks currently displayed in its museum. By 1790 repairs to the church were complete. The tower was rebuilt with a cupola
and clocks on all sides.
. Upon completing this task two years later, they disbursed £3,000 to the church. That same year Kingston was formally incorporated
as a village. In 1808 the village surveyed the property on which the church proper stood and formally conveyed it to the church. The next year, the church began to break with its cultural roots, holding its last services in Dutch
.
In 1816 the church established the first Sunday school
in Ulster County
. Its goal was to teach local African-Americans to read the Bible. The church did in this in the context of publicly saying that it looked forward to "the time when people of color will be entitled to the rights of citizenship".
Burials in the church cemetery stopped in 1830. A cholera
epidemic swept Kingston that year, and as the graveyard filled up quickly the consistory decided against allowing any more. One exception was a woman who died in 1832, possibly the last burial in the churchyard.
The church building, too, was reaching the limit of its capacity. The original parsonage was torn down and a new brick church with Romanesque arched windows erected. Its roof was damaged by a lightning strike
in 1840 that tore a large hole in it. No one was present in the church at the time and services were held the next Sunday.
Within two decades the new church was already reaching its capacity, with over a thousand congregants. In 1848, a group of parishioners broke away when the Classis of Ulster denied permission for a new building and formed the Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston
two blocks away on Fair Street, ending the Old Church's hegemony over Kingston. This did not adequately relieve the overcrowding. In 1850 the church resolved to replace the old building, which was still suffering the effects of the lightning strike. The next year the church bought another nearby parcel to enlarge its cemetery, in preparation for the construction of a new building. How they chose Lafever is not known, but in 1852 they began construction of his church, grounding the building in trenches instead of excavating a full cellar, so as not to disturb the graves in the area. The cornerstone
was laid in May.
After a year and a half of construction work, costing $33,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), the church was dedicated in September 1852. The contractors were paid for work beyond the original scope. It is not known whether Lafever ever visited the site or modified his design while construction was underway.
Two years later, its original steeple, at 239 feet (72.8 m) the tallest in the state at that time, crashed to the ground when the roof collapsed during a Christmas Eve
windstorm. The cause was traced to the 50 tons (46 tonnes) of slate
roofing the church elders had substituted for Lafever's tin
, creating a load
greater than the structure was intended to support.
The church sold the brick building, which it no longer needed. After a few other owners, it became the property of the state, which used it as an armory
. When the Civil War
started, the church, long active in the Abolitionist movement, became the center of parishioner George H. Sharpe
's efforts to organize the 12th New York Infantry. The unit drilled in the armory and fought in battles ranging from Fredericksburg
to
Appomattox
. Its battle flags hang in the Old Church's narthex. After the war, it was consecrated as St. James Catholic Church
In 1861 the church closed for ten months in order to erect the current steeple. Another structural problem, the shifting of its east wall, had been noticed and was mentioned in a report by the state engineer's office in 1874. It was attributed at the time to the lack of a full basement due to the decision to leave the underlying graves intact. In 1882 the church started another building campaign to address this and other issues.
Not only had the wall shifted, the ceiling had suffered. It was replastered, and the exterior buttress
was built. Lafever's original tin was restored to the roof. A small stone chapel
was built on the north side.
At the beginning of 1892, the church dedicated the new stained glass window, a gift in remembrance of a congregant's parents. Made from Favrile glass by one of Louis Comfort Tiffany
's artists, it depicts the Presentation of Christ at the Temple. It was lit at first by gas, and later electricity. It marks the last significant change to the church's interior.
Four years later, in 1896, Sharpe's monument to his volunteers was added to the graveyard. The 16 feet (4.9 m) statue, the work of Byron M. Pickett, was dedicated in a ceremony attended by many of the 120th's former members. It is the only Civil War monument erected to a unit's members by that unit's commander, and one of the rare examples of such a war monument anywhere. The plot it stands on was reportedly deed
ed to the monument itself.
. Seven years later, the remains of George Clinton
, an Episcopalian
, were transferred from Washington to the churchyard, where he was reburied with full honors, under the same obelisk
he had originally been buried under, within sight of the steps of the courthouse where he had been sworn in as New York's first governor in 1777. Shortly after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the church held a memorial service
for the victims.
The following year a small stone building at the corner of Washington Avenue and Joys Lane, known as Bethany Chapel, was sold to the church. In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt
, then governor and himself a Dutch American native of the Hudson Valley
, spoke at ceremonies commemorating the 150th anniversary of Washington's visit.
Bethany Chapel was sold in 1946, and burned down shortly thereafter. Five years later, when the church needed to expand its facilities again, the small chapel on the north that had been created in 1883 was enlarged to include a second story, with choir room, classroom and kitchen as well. Bluestone sympathetic to the original design was used. The new wing was named Bethany Annex in honor of the chapel building. The next year, to celebrate the centenary of the church building, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
and her consort
, Bernhard
, attended services. Her daughter, then-Princess Beatrix
, followed her in 1959, during commemorations of Henry Hudson
's voyage up the river on the Halve Maen
and the church's tercentary.
The later years of the 20th century would see more renovations. In the mid-1970s the east wall was shored up again, and the steeple was repainted in its current white from its previous gray. In 1996 the Patriotism monument to the 120th was restored. Other historic Kingston buildings benefited from the church's focus on restoration and preservation
. When city hall began suffering from neglect in the late 20th century, some congregants removed the surviving bas-relief plaster lunette
s depicting scenes in the city's history from the building's facade and stored them in the church's basement. They were returned to city hall when it was restored in 2000.
.
After several years of restorations and maintenance, the church, with the help of the State Historic Preservation Office
, applied to the National Park Service
(NPS) for National Historic Landmark
status. U.S. Representative
Maurice Hinchey
lobbied the NPS on the church's behalf, and in October 2008 his office made the first announcement of the designation. Several months later he was also present as the church officially received its plaque
. That year, the church celebrated its 350th anniversary at events like its annual Washington dinner and Pinkster
. The current pastor, Ken Walsh, started the year by doing the liturgy
as it was in 1659, in the vestments a minister of that era would have worn. He has advanced to a different century every three months, to reach the present day by the end of the year.
Hinchey spoke at the church in 2010 to lobby for passage of a federal urban development bill which included a $350,000 grant to shore up the church, replacing steel girders which had done that since 2004. At that time the bill had passed the House but not the Senate. The structural problems have been attributed to the graves it was built on.
. It professes its faith thus:
It holds regular Sunday services, Sunday School
, confirmation classes, Sunday adult discussion programs and a "Souper Thursday" program that complements homemade soup
with spiritual discussion. There is a women's ministry and men's club. The church also publishes a monthly newsletter
, Steeple Chimes.
There are several groups affiliated with the church. The Friends of Old Dutch is a non-profit
that raises money for the continued maintenance and preservation of the church building. Two musical groups, the Kingston Community Singers and Mendelssohn
Club of Kingston, rehearse and perform at the church.
s at the First Reformed Church in Albany and St. Patrick's Cathedral
in New York, was hired to build the new Dutch Church's organ.
Erben's facade and case remain today, but the pipes and internal mechanics were replaced with an E.M. Skinner
organ in 1903. It was powered by a water-driven motor, providing a continuous flow of air. The church's consistory had written to the city requesting that water pressure be maintained on Sundays to allow the organ to function. In 1914 an electric motor was installed to replace the water. A smaller Echo organ was given to the church in 1927.
In the mid-1950s the church decided to recondition the organ. After reviewing several bids, its Music Committee decided to award the contract to the M. P. Moller
company, with a plan for further extensions of the organ. The reconditioned organ was dedicated in 1956 with a recital including Johann Sebastian Bach
's Toccata and Fugue in D minor
. Its console
is still in use, after many emergency repairs. A Wicks choir division was added in the next decade.
Another organ subcommitee was formed in 1978 to assess the progress since the mid-century restoration. Its major move was to replace the Wicks choir division, which had never integrated well with the rest of the organ due to a difference in powering methods. It was replaced with a Moller division in 1980. A 1990 committee was able to negotiate another deal with Moller for the completion of the plan.
The next year the Echo organ was removed to make way for the completion of the Moller. The company delivered the final set of pipes and mechanics in late 1991. After they were installed, the expanded organ was rededicated with two recitals in 1992, both including the Toccata. An annual recital series was established that year as well, later with the help of a state grant
.
was made from copper and silver brought by congregants as gifts upon the baptism
of their children. This bell was replaced with a professionally-cast one in 1724, shortly after the second church was expanded. The cost was split between the church and the patent trustees.
That bell lasted until the fire started by the British Army in 1777 damaged the church sufficiently for the bell tower to collapse. A replacement bell donated to the church by a Colonel Rutgers, a friend of the congregation, was not popular, as it sounded more like a ship's bell than a church's. Eventually it was supposedly donated to the courthouse, and Rutgers arranged for the casting of a new bell. The 540 pounds (244.9 kg) replacement was brought over from Amsterdam
in 1794.
It remained in regular service, tolling not only for services and funerals but also at noon and 8 p.m. daily, until a crack developed in 1888. After that it was rung only for special events and at the remembrances of recently-deceased U.S. presidents, up to Woodrow Wilson
's death in 1924.
Only once since then has it been rung. During World War II
, it rang in the New Year
for 1943. This was broadcast to the Netherlands
via shortwave radio. That country was occupied by Nazi Germany
at the time, and most of its church bells had been confiscated and melted down for matériel
. Those that had not were not permitted to be rung, and the broadcast was thus intended to boost morale
among the Dutch population.
After Bethany Chapel burned down following its sale in 1946, the church was able to salvage its 1870 bell from the ruins. It was fully restored in 1974 and is now on display in the church's narthex.
haunts the steeple. The story begins with an early dominie and his wife returning from New York City via the Hudson in stormy weather. As the ship passed Dunderberg Mountain
in the Hudson Highlands
, the creature flew out and sat on the foremast, making the ship more likely to capsize
in the rough water. The passengers and crew asked the dominie to pray.
He did, and the hobgoblin left. The next morning, its cap was discovered hanging on the church's bell tower. In attempting to get it back, the hobgoblin became imprisoned in the tower, and all succeeding spires. He will remain so, the legend says, as long as the church remains on consecrated ground. Stories claim that a small painter has been seen at work on the steeple during lightning flashes. His moans during Sunday services were mistaken for worshippers snoring
.
Twice the creature is supposed to have made more direct contact with humans. A painter on the steeple in 1852 died of "painter's colic
" when he was scared into a fall off the church, and in 1984 another painter suddenly climbed down after he claimed to have been tapped on the shoulder three times. The hobgoblin is supposed to have added an extra line to the clock face so that "XII" became "XIII".
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
, New York, United States. Formally organized in 1659, it is one of the oldest continuously existing congregations in the country. Its current building, the fifth, is an 1852 structure by 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:...
that was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2008, the only one in the city. The church's 225 feet (68.6 m) steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
, a replacement for a taller but similar original that collapsed, makes it the tallest building in Kingston and a symbol of the city.
Lafever's building was described by Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux , was an architect and landscape designer. He is best remembered as the co-designer , of New York's Central Park....
as "ideally perfect". It is unique among his work as his only Renaissance Revival church that largely retains the original design, and the only stone
Stonemasonry
The craft of stonemasonry has existed since the dawn of civilization - creating buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone from the earth. These materials have been used to construct many of the long-lasting, ancient monuments, artifacts, cathedrals, and cities in a wide variety of cultures...
church he is known to have built. Its interior includes stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
's company, and an extensive M.P. Moller pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
After a few early renovations, and the collapse of the higher original steeple, it has remained largely intact since 1892, although there have been continuing issues with one of the walls. One of the congregation's previous churches is across neighboring Wall Street. The church grounds also include a small cemetery with most of the burials predating its construction. Among them is George Clinton
George Clinton (vice president)
George Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the first Governor of New York, and then the fourth Vice President of the United States , serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He and John C...
, a former governor and U.S. Vice President.
The church has been active in Kingston's civic life. During the Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
paid a visit due to the church's strong support for the Patriot
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
cause, and wrote a thank-you note exhibited in the church today. An annual dinner is held to commemorate the visit. George H. Sharpe
George H. Sharpe
George Henry Sharpe was an American lawyer, soldier, secret service officer, diplomat and politician.-Early life:...
raised a Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
regiment at the church, and later erected a monument in the churchyard to those volunteers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and members of the Dutch royal family
Monarchy of the Netherlands
The Netherlands has been an independent monarchy since 16 March 1815, and has been governed by members of the House of Orange-Nassau since.-Constitutional role and position of the monarch:...
, among other notables, have visited the church. It has also been the site of memorials to tragedy from the assassination of William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
to September 11, 2001.
Building
The church is located on a 1.4 acres (5,665.6 m²) lotLot (real estate)
In real estate, a lot or plot is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner. A lot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property in other countries...
at the east of uptown Kingston. It is a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the Stockade District
Kingston Stockade District
The Kingston Stockade District is an eight-block area in the western section of Kingston, New York, United States, commonly referred to as Uptown Kingston...
. Main, Fair and Wall streets surround it on three sides; the north has some two-story commercial buildings. The old 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...
courthouse is just to the northwest, across Wall. Amid a cluster of buildings on the south, across Main Street, is the building the current church replaced, now a Catholic church. Most of the neighboring buildings support the church's historic character, dating to the 19th or early 20th centuries.
Tall shade trees surround the building and shelter its cemetery. An iron fence with stone posts encircles most of the property. Flagstone
Flagstone
Flagstone, is a generic flat stone, usually used for paving slabs or walkways, patios, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstones, facades and other constructions. The name derives from Middle English flagge meaning turf, perhaps from Old Norse flaga meaning slab.Flagstone is a...
walks lead to the primary entrance on the south side and around the building, where another one leads from the tower entrance to Wall Street.
Exterior
The building itself is faced in load-bearing locally quarried bluestoneBluestone
Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including:*a feldspathic sandstone in the U.S. and Canada;*limestone in the Shenandoah Valley in the U.S...
, set in a random ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
pattern with limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
trim. It consists of a main sanctuary
Sanctuary
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...
building oriented north-south with an east-west lecture hall
Lecture hall
A lecture hall is a large room used for instruction, typically at a college or university. Unlike a traditional classroom with a capacity from one to four dozen, the capacity of lecture halls is typically measured in the hundreds...
wing on the north end and attached multi-stage 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...
at the northwest corner. The 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 roof is clad in raised-seam metal, with a modillioned wooden cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
. It is pierced by skylights corresponding to the exterior windows, currently covered in plastic, justy above the roofline.
Fenestration
Window
A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall or door that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound. Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material like float glass. Windows are held in place by frames, which...
on both side profiles consists of five large round-arched 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...
windows framed by molded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
limestone casings with bracketed
Bracket (architecture)
A bracket is an architectural member made of wood, stone, or metal that overhangs a wall to support or carry weight. It may also support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They can be entirely...
sills. On the east in the center is an engaged buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
added to shore up the wall. A three-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:...
projecting pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
on the west supports the bell tower. Its entrance is a single door with round-arched window above and on the sides. Its lowest stage is a three-story masonry tower with wooden cornices separating the stories, topped by three frame
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
ones above a curved cornice. The lower two are octagonal, one featuring a clock and the next louver
Louver
A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...
ed round-arched vents. The uppermost stage, the conical steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
, has ribs defining its eight facts and is covered with diamond-shaped wooden shingles
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...
. Kingston's city ordinances prohibit the construction of any building taller than its base in the Stockade District.
The lecture hall addition on the north is similar to the main church block. It is a two-story bluestone structure with slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roof, mostly shielded from view by the church and adjacent buildings.
A similar projecting gabled pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
, with battered corners, on the Main Street side frames the main entrance. Two bluestone steps with iron railings lead up to a pair of slightly recessed paneled wooden doors topped by a fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
with tracery. The limestone surround is topped with a keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
. Limestone is also used for the corner bases and courses
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
at ground level and continuing the cornice line at that level. Similarly appointed but smaller doors flank the main entrance.
Interior
In the narthexNarthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
a small display case
Display case
A display case is a cabinet with one or often more transparent glass sides and/or top, used to display objects for viewing, for example in an exhibition, museum, house, in retail, or a restaurant. Often labels are included with the displayed objects, providing information...
contains items of significance from the church's history: the first communicants' tablet, and a letter from George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
thanking the congregation for its hospitality to him on a 1782 visit (This is reportedly his only writing during the entire eight years of the Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
that mentions any religious institution.) Across from the main entrance three round-arched doors corresponding to those on the outside lead into the main sanctuary.
Gilding
The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...
and mahogany trim of the pews providing a contrast. Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
columns, creating lateral arcades
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
, provide corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
ed support to groin vault
Groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. The word groin refers to the edge between the intersecting vaults; cf. ribbed vault. Sometimes the arches of groin vaults are pointed instead of round...
s. The arcading partially encloses the balcony. A simulated clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
level is illuminated by the skylights supplemented by electric lighting in the original wall sconce
Sconce
Sconce may refer to any of the following:* Sconce , a military fortification* Sconce * Sconcing, imposing a penalty in the form of drink* SCoNCe, , University of California, Irvine...
s. The walls themselves are plaster on lath
Lath and plaster
Lath and plaster is a building process used mainly for interior walls in Canada and the United States until the late 1950s. After the 1950s, drywall began to replace the lath and plaster process in the United States. In the United Kingdom, lath and plaster was used for some interior partition...
with beaded wainscoting ending in a chiar rail.
A raised wooden platform supports the pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
, carved with some classical motifs such as rectangular, rounded lozenges and foliation, some of it gilded, echoing the wall behind it. It has two front piers that resemble anta
Anta
An anta is an architectural term describing the posts or pillars on either side of a doorway or entrance of a Greek temple - the slightly projecting piers which terminate the walls of the naos.In contrast to pillars, they are directly connected with the walls of a temple...
e. On the wall above the pulpit is a Palladian Tiffany stained glass window depicting the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, which falls on 2 February, celebrates an early episode in the life of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church and some Eastern Catholic Churches, it is one of the twelve Great Feasts, and is sometimes called Hypapante...
framed by gilded moldings and flanked by pairs of fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
Corinthian pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s. Bronze statues of angels are on either side.
On the south wall is a choir loft with the church's pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
. It is in a case with another Palladian motif and carvings similar to those in the pulpit, and also framed with fluted Corinthian pilasters. A large swan-necked broken pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
is atop the case.
The church's box pews have hinged doors, scrolled armrests and seat cushions. They all face forward on the ground floor except for the two rows in the front. On the upstairs galleries they face the opposite wall. Metal and marble memorial plaques
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
line the walls, and a door on the northwest side leads to the tower vestibule.
Cemetery
The remainder of the church lot is given over to its cemetery. It contains around 300 headstoneHeadstone
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
s, many of which predate the current church. The stonework on many is detailed and high in quality. 1710 is the earliest date for which one is legible, but church records show burials as early as 1679, and some that have not yet been translated may have taken place earlier. Not all graves were marked. The most recent stone dates to 1832.
At least 70 of the stones are believed to be Revolutionary War-era veterans. George Clinton
George Clinton (vice president)
George Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the first Governor of New York, and then the fourth Vice President of the United States , serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He and John C...
, former governor
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
and U.S. Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
under Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
and James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
, is buried here under a large obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
in the churchyard's southwest corner. He was moved here from Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in 1908 and reburied in a full ceremony. Another large monument to "Patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
" in the southeast corner honors the volunteers of the 120th New York Infantry during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. It was commissioned by George H. Sharpe
George H. Sharpe
George Henry Sharpe was an American lawyer, soldier, secret service officer, diplomat and politician.-Early life:...
, a Kingston native and colonel of volunteers for the 120th.
Aesthetics
The Old Dutch Church was one of Lafever's last commissions, and considered his most fully developed application of the Renaissance Revival style. Architectural historianArchitectural History
Architectural History is the main journal of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain .The journal is published each autumn. The architecture of the British Isles is a major theme of the journal, although it includes more general papers on the history of architecture. Member of...
W. Barksdale Maynard says it "reveals
an experienced architect at the height of his powers, broadening his approach beyond the 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...
he had done so much to popularize." The style may have also appealed to the church's congregation as a way of distinguishing itself architecturally within the city from the Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston
Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston
Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston is a historic Dutch Reformed church located at Kingston, Ulster County, New York. It was built in 1850, and is a meeting house form church building constructed of native limestone blocks in the Gothic Revival style...
, an offshoot church which had built a new Gothic Revival church nearby in 1850. It also may have been preferred as it made the church building look older than it actually was.
Sag Harbor, New York
Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, with parts in both the Towns of East Hampton and Southampton. The population was 2,313 at the 2000 census....
for the church's exterior, preferring the more 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...
choice of putting the tower on the side. The projecting front pavilion on the Main Street side creates the appearance of superimposed gables, much like those on the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore
Church of San Giorgio Maggiore
thumb|450 px|San Giorgio Maggiore seen across the water in full sun on an evening in JuneSan Giorgio Maggiore is a 16th century Benedictine church on the island of the same name in Venice, northern Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio and built between 1566 and 1610...
in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. Eclecticism was another aspect of 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...
that showed up in Lafever's design. The battered piers at the corners give the main block and front pavilion a slight Egyptian Revival
Egyptian Revival architecture
Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile during 1798....
feel, as well as adding mass.
The interior of the church follows English Renaissance
English Renaissance
The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the late 15th and early 16th centuries to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as beginning in Italy in the late 14th century; like most of northern...
forms popularized by Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
and James Gibbs
James Gibbs
James Gibbs was one of Britain's most influential architects. Born in Scotland, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England...
, particularly some aspects of the latter's St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is an Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours.-Roman era:Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave dated about 410...
, which again may have been chosen by the congregation to distinguish themselves from the Second Reformed Church. By using such a consciously English model, the church's congregation signaled the full assimilation
Cultural assimilation
Cultural assimilation is a socio-political response to demographic multi-ethnicity that supports or promotes the assimilation of ethnic minorities into the dominant culture. The term assimilation is often used with regard to immigrants and various ethnic groups who have settled in a new land. New...
of Dutch Americans, many of whom had continued to speak Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
for some years after independence, into the predominantly English-influenced
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
culture of the mid-19th century United States. He used a 3:5:7 ratio for the proportions, representing the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
, the human sense
Sense
Senses are physiological capacities of organisms that provide inputs for perception. The senses and their operation, classification, and theory are overlapping topics studied by a variety of fields, most notably neuroscience, cognitive psychology , and philosophy of perception...
s and the days of Creation respectively. Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux
Calvert Vaux , was an architect and landscape designer. He is best remembered as the co-designer , of New York's Central Park....
, when declining a commission for a new pulpit at the church three decades later, called its forms and symmetry, "ideally perfect".
History
The First Protestant Dutch Reformed Church of Kingston has held worship services for 350 years, making it one of the oldest continuously existing congregations in the U.S. The current building is its fifth.For the first 170 years of its existence it was the only church in Kingston, and the only Dutch Reformed Church for much of the west side of 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...
. Fifty other churches in the region were started under its auspices. Its birth, marriage and death records are complete to 1660, making it one of the oldest such collections in the country and an important resource for genealogists
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
.
17th and 18th centuries
Dutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
of New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
. Jacob Stoll, a local settler, led services for 11 others in his house in the absence of an ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
minister or actual building. The following year it was formally organized, and in 1660 received its first dominie
Dominie
Dominie is a Scots language and Scottish English term for a Scottish schoolmaster or a minister, usually of the Church of Scotland but sometimes of other presbyterian churches in Scotland...
, or minister, Hermanus Blom. A parsonage was built at the order of Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
in 1662. It was used as a school and court as well, and possibly an Indian trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
.
Church lore holds that a crude log meetinghouse, built into the stockade
Stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide security.-Stockade as a security fence:...
that had been built around the small city, was erected near the current location in 1661, although whether it was there has been disputed. Any structure that did exist was destroyed in 1663 during the Second Esopus War. By 1680 a small stone building was in use there. Records of the time describe it as 60 feet (18.3 m) wide long and 45 feet (13.7 m) wide. A later history notes that it was extravagantly furnished for the time and place with 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...
windows bearing coats of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
.
Services of that era were austere and lengthy, conducted in strict accordance with Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
beliefs. On the Sabbath day, liquor consumption, discharge of firearms and beating of drums were forbidden, with steadily escalating penalties starting at one Flemish pound
Pound (currency)
The pound is a unit of currency in some nations. The term originated in England as the value of a pound of silver.The word pound is the English translation of the Latin word libra, which was the unit of account of the Roman Empire...
. The church itself was unheated, due to fears of fire. Some congregants brought small stoves to warm their feet in winter. They sat in seats on either side of the sanctuary. A Vorleser (reader) and Vorsanger (music leader) assisted the minister. There were no books for the audience since many were illiterate. The church did not have an organ since they were considered a work of the devil.
After the Second Anglo-Dutch War
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
, the 1667 Treaty of Breda turned New Netherland over to the English, and Wiltwyck became Kingston. The trustees of the Kingston Patent
Land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate – land or its privileges – made by a government or other authority as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service...
generously funded the church, by transferring to it a thousand acres (400 ha) in the north of the town, which the church subdivided and sold.
In 1712 the church requested a royal charter; seven years later it was granted by King George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
in exchange for a peppercorn
Peppercorn (legal)
A peppercorn in legal parlance is a metaphor for a very small payment, a nominal consideration, used to satisfy the requirements for the creation of a legal contract. "A peppercorn does not cease to be good consideration if it is established that the promisee does not like pepper and will throw...
in rent every year. Two years later, in 1721, it was expanded, early in the half-century tenure of Dominie Petrus Vas. A doop huys, a sort of 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,...
, was built to handle baptism
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...
s, meetings and other consistorial activities. Vas would, three decades later, oversee the construction of a second church building. Surviving prints show a gambrel-roofed meetinghouse two bays wide with a tower on the front. Its siding seems to have been limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
rubble, although the first print shows a material that could be either in a coursed
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
pattern or parging to mimic coursed stone. Fenestration consisted of three round-arched windows along the sides. It was dedicated on November 29, 1752, by Georg Wilhelm Mancius, Vas's assistant.
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
retaliating against the recently proclaimed capital of the independent state of New York after the Battle of Saratoga
Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American War of Independence and are generally regarded as a turning point in the war. The battles were fought eighteen days apart on the same ground, south of Saratoga, New York...
. It was gutted, but the walls still stood. The congregtation strongly supported the Patriot
Patriot (American Revolution)
Patriots is a name often used to describe the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation...
cause throughout the war. In 1782, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, garrisoned near Newburgh
Newburgh (city), New York
Newburgh is a city located in Orange County, New York, United States, north of New York City, and south of Albany, on the Hudson River. Newburgh is a principal city of the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown metropolitan area, which includes all of Dutchess and Orange counties. The Newburgh area was...
to the south, visited the church. He enjoyed his visit enough that he wrote the congregation the letter of thanks currently displayed in its museum. By 1790 repairs to the church were complete. The tower was rebuilt with a cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
and clocks on all sides.
19th century
The first decade of the new century brought change to the church and its community. In 1803 the trustees of the patent decided to sell all their remaining landholdings and dissolveDissolution (law)
In law, dissolution has multiple meanings.Dissolution is the last stage of liquidation, the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed....
. Upon completing this task two years later, they disbursed £3,000 to the church. That same year Kingston was formally incorporated
Municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...
as a village. In 1808 the village surveyed the property on which the church proper stood and formally conveyed it to the church. The next year, the church began to break with its cultural roots, holding its last services in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
.
In 1816 the church established the first 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...
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...
. Its goal was to teach local African-Americans to read the Bible. The church did in this in the context of publicly saying that it looked forward to "the time when people of color will be entitled to the rights of citizenship".
Burials in the church cemetery stopped in 1830. A cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemic swept Kingston that year, and as the graveyard filled up quickly the consistory decided against allowing any more. One exception was a woman who died in 1832, possibly the last burial in the churchyard.
The church building, too, was reaching the limit of its capacity. The original parsonage was torn down and a new brick church with Romanesque arched windows erected. Its roof was damaged by a lightning strike
Lightning strike
Lightning strikes are electrical discharges caused by lightning, typically during thunderstorms.Humans can be hit by lightning directly when outdoors. Contrary to popular notion, there is no 'safe' location outdoors. People have been struck in sheds and makeshift shelters...
in 1840 that tore a large hole in it. No one was present in the church at the time and services were held the next Sunday.
Within two decades the new church was already reaching its capacity, with over a thousand congregants. In 1848, a group of parishioners broke away when the Classis of Ulster denied permission for a new building and formed the Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston
Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston
Second Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston is a historic Dutch Reformed church located at Kingston, Ulster County, New York. It was built in 1850, and is a meeting house form church building constructed of native limestone blocks in the Gothic Revival style...
two blocks away on Fair Street, ending the Old Church's hegemony over Kingston. This did not adequately relieve the overcrowding. In 1850 the church resolved to replace the old building, which was still suffering the effects of the lightning strike. The next year the church bought another nearby parcel to enlarge its cemetery, in preparation for the construction of a new building. How they chose Lafever is not known, but in 1852 they began construction of his church, grounding the building in trenches instead of excavating a full cellar, so as not to disturb the graves in the area. The cornerstone
Cornerstone
The cornerstone concept is derived from the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure.Over time a cornerstone became a ceremonial masonry stone, or...
was laid in May.
After a year and a half of construction work, costing $33,000 ($ in contemporary dollars), the church was dedicated in September 1852. The contractors were paid for work beyond the original scope. It is not known whether Lafever ever visited the site or modified his design while construction was underway.
Two years later, its original steeple, at 239 feet (72.8 m) the tallest in the state at that time, crashed to the ground when the roof collapsed during a Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
windstorm. The cause was traced to the 50 tons (46 tonnes) of slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roofing the church elders had substituted for Lafever's tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
, creating a load
Structural load
Structural loads or actions are forces, deformations or accelerations applied to a structure or its components.Loads cause stresses, deformations and displacements in structures. Assessment of their effects is carried out by the methods of structural analysis...
greater than the structure was intended to support.
Armory (military)
An armory or armoury is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
. When the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
started, the church, long active in the Abolitionist movement, became the center of parishioner George H. Sharpe
George H. Sharpe
George Henry Sharpe was an American lawyer, soldier, secret service officer, diplomat and politician.-Early life:...
's efforts to organize the 12th New York Infantry. The unit drilled in the armory and fought in battles ranging from Fredericksburg
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside...
to
Appomattox
Appomattox Campaign
The Appomattox Campaign was a series of battles fought March 29 – April 9, 1865, in Virginia that culminated in the surrender of Confederate General Robert E...
. Its battle flags hang in the Old Church's narthex. After the war, it was consecrated as St. James Catholic Church
In 1861 the church closed for ten months in order to erect the current steeple. Another structural problem, the shifting of its east wall, had been noticed and was mentioned in a report by the state engineer's office in 1874. It was attributed at the time to the lack of a full basement due to the decision to leave the underlying graves intact. In 1882 the church started another building campaign to address this and other issues.
Not only had the wall shifted, the ceiling had suffered. It was replastered, and the exterior buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
was built. Lafever's original tin was restored to the roof. A small stone 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,...
was built on the north side.
At the beginning of 1892, the church dedicated the new stained glass window, a gift in remembrance of a congregant's parents. Made from Favrile glass by one of Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
's artists, it depicts the Presentation of Christ at the Temple. It was lit at first by gas, and later electricity. It marks the last significant change to the church's interior.
Four years later, in 1896, Sharpe's monument to his volunteers was added to the graveyard. The 16 feet (4.9 m) statue, the work of Byron M. Pickett, was dedicated in a ceremony attended by many of the 120th's former members. It is the only Civil War monument erected to a unit's members by that unit's commander, and one of the rare examples of such a war monument anywhere. The plot it stands on was reportedly deed
Deed
A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...
ed to the monument itself.
20th century
The early 20th century saw several events related to funerary matters. In 1901, the church held one of the official funeral services following the assassination of President William McKinleyWilliam McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
. Seven years later, the remains of George Clinton
George Clinton (vice president)
George Clinton was an American soldier and politician, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was the first Governor of New York, and then the fourth Vice President of the United States , serving under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He and John C...
, 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...
, were transferred from Washington to the churchyard, where he was reburied with full honors, under the same obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
he had originally been buried under, within sight of the steps of the courthouse where he had been sworn in as New York's first governor in 1777. Shortly after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, the church held a memorial service
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
for the victims.
The following year a small stone building at the corner of Washington Avenue and Joys Lane, known as Bethany Chapel, was sold to the church. In 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, then governor and himself a Dutch American native 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:...
, spoke at ceremonies commemorating the 150th anniversary of Washington's visit.
Juliana of the Netherlands
Juliana was the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1948 and 1980. She was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry...
and her consort
Prince consort
A prince consort is the husband of a queen regnant who is not himself a king in his own right.Current examples include the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , and Prince Henrik of Denmark .In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal...
, Bernhard
Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld , later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, was prince consort of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and father of six children, including the current monarch Queen Beatrix....
, attended services. Her daughter, then-Princess Beatrix
Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...
, followed her in 1959, during commemorations of Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
's voyage up the river on the Halve Maen
Halve Maen
The Halve Maen was a Dutch East India Company vlieboot which sailed into what is now New York harbor in September 1609. It was commissioned by the Dutch Republic to covertly find an eastern passage to China...
and the church's tercentary.
The later years of the 20th century would see more renovations. In the mid-1970s the east wall was shored up again, and the steeple was repainted in its current white from its previous gray. In 1996 the Patriotism monument to the 120th was restored. Other historic Kingston buildings benefited from the church's focus on restoration and preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
. When city hall began suffering from neglect in the late 20th century, some congregants removed the surviving bas-relief plaster lunette
Lunette
In architecture, a lunette is a half-moon shaped space, either filled with recessed masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the...
s depicting scenes in the city's history from the building's facade and stored them in the church's basement. They were returned to city hall when it was restored in 2000.
21st century
As with the century just past, the first major event of the new century at the church was an observance of national grief. On the evening of September 11, 2001, it was opened to all members of the community for impromptu services in the wake of that day's terrorist attacks on the World Trade CenterWorld Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
.
After several years of restorations and maintenance, the church, with the help of the State Historic Preservation Office
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation operates :*168 state parks*35 state historic sites*76 developed beaches*53 water recreational facilities*27 golf courses*39 full service cottages*818 cabins...
, applied to the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
(NPS) for National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
status. U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Maurice Hinchey
Maurice Hinchey
Maurice Dunlea Hinchey , is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party...
lobbied the NPS on the church's behalf, and in October 2008 his office made the first announcement of the designation. Several months later he was also present as the church officially received its plaque
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
. That year, the church celebrated its 350th anniversary at events like its annual Washington dinner and Pinkster
Pinkster
Pinkster is a spring festival, taking place in late May or early June. The name is a variation of the Dutch word Pinksteren, meaning "Pentecost". Pinkster in English almost always refers to the festivals held by African Americans in the Northeastern United States, particularly in the early 19th...
. The current pastor, Ken Walsh, started the year by doing the liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
as it was in 1659, in the vestments a minister of that era would have worn. He has advanced to a different century every three months, to reach the present day by the end of the year.
Hinchey spoke at the church in 2010 to lobby for passage of a federal urban development bill which included a $350,000 grant to shore up the church, replacing steel girders which had done that since 2004. At that time the bill had passed the House but not the Senate. The structural problems have been attributed to the graves it was built on.
The church today
The church and its congregation are "committed to providing worship, education, evangelism, social action, and fellowship", according to their mission statementMission statement
A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company or organization. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making...
. It professes its faith thus:
It holds regular Sunday services, 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...
, confirmation classes, Sunday adult discussion programs and a "Souper Thursday" program that complements homemade soup
Soup
Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
with spiritual discussion. There is a women's ministry and men's club. The church also publishes a monthly newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
, Steeple Chimes.
There are several groups affiliated with the church. The Friends of Old Dutch is a non-profit
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
that raises money for the continued maintenance and preservation of the church building. Two musical groups, the Kingston Community Singers and Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
Club of Kingston, rehearse and perform at the church.
Organ
By the 19th century, the church's original aversion to organs had abated, and a photo of the interior of the 1832 church from that era shows an organ. When the current church was built, Henry Erben, who had built the pipe organPipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
s at the First Reformed Church in Albany and St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...
in New York, was hired to build the new Dutch Church's organ.
Erben's facade and case remain today, but the pipes and internal mechanics were replaced with an E.M. Skinner
Ernest M. Skinner
Ernest M. Skinner was one of the most successful American organ builders of the early 20th century.-Early years:...
organ in 1903. It was powered by a water-driven motor, providing a continuous flow of air. The church's consistory had written to the city requesting that water pressure be maintained on Sundays to allow the organ to function. In 1914 an electric motor was installed to replace the water. A smaller Echo organ was given to the church in 1927.
In the mid-1950s the church decided to recondition the organ. After reviewing several bids, its Music Committee decided to award the contract to the M. P. Moller
M. P. Moller
Mathias Peter Møller was a prolific Danish organ builder. He was a native of the Danish island of Bornholm. He founded the M.P. Moller Pipe Organ Company in Greencastle, Pennsylvania in 1875...
company, with a plan for further extensions of the organ. The reconditioned organ was dedicated in 1956 with a recital including Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
The Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, is a piece of organ music attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. It is one of the most famous works in the organ repertoire, and has been used in a variety of popular media ranging from film, video games, to rock music, and ringtones...
. Its console
Organ console
thumb|right|250px|The console of the [[Wanamaker Organ]] in the Macy's department store in [[Philadelphia]], featuring six manuals and colour-coded stop tabs....
is still in use, after many emergency repairs. A Wicks choir division was added in the next decade.
Another organ subcommitee was formed in 1978 to assess the progress since the mid-century restoration. Its major move was to replace the Wicks choir division, which had never integrated well with the rest of the organ due to a difference in powering methods. It was replaced with a Moller division in 1980. A 1990 committee was able to negotiate another deal with Moller for the completion of the plan.
The next year the Echo organ was removed to make way for the completion of the Moller. The company delivered the final set of pipes and mechanics in late 1991. After they were installed, the expanded organ was rededicated with two recitals in 1992, both including the Toccata. An annual recital series was established that year as well, later with the help of a state grant
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
.
Bell
Church lore has it that the first bellChurch bell
A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...
was made from copper and silver brought by congregants as gifts upon the baptism
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...
of their children. This bell was replaced with a professionally-cast one in 1724, shortly after the second church was expanded. The cost was split between the church and the patent trustees.
That bell lasted until the fire started by the British Army in 1777 damaged the church sufficiently for the bell tower to collapse. A replacement bell donated to the church by a Colonel Rutgers, a friend of the congregation, was not popular, as it sounded more like a ship's bell than a church's. Eventually it was supposedly donated to the courthouse, and Rutgers arranged for the casting of a new bell. The 540 pounds (244.9 kg) replacement was brought over from Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
in 1794.
It remained in regular service, tolling not only for services and funerals but also at noon and 8 p.m. daily, until a crack developed in 1888. After that it was rung only for special events and at the remembrances of recently-deceased U.S. presidents, up to Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
's death in 1924.
Only once since then has it been rung. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it rang in the New Year
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome...
for 1943. This was broadcast to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
via shortwave radio. That country was occupied by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
at the time, and most of its church bells had been confiscated and melted down for matériel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
. Those that had not were not permitted to be rung, and the broadcast was thus intended to boost morale
Morale
Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible term used to describe the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others...
among the Dutch population.
After Bethany Chapel burned down following its sale in 1946, the church was able to salvage its 1870 bell from the ruins. It was fully restored in 1974 and is now on display in the church's narthex.
Hobgoblin legend
Church lore has it that a hobgoblinHobgoblin
Hobgoblin is a term typically applied in folktales to describe a friendly but troublesome creature of the Seelie Court.The most commonly known hobgoblin is the character Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Puck, however, is only another name given to a much older character named Robin...
haunts the steeple. The story begins with an early dominie and his wife returning from New York City via the Hudson in stormy weather. As the ship passed Dunderberg Mountain
Dunderberg Mountain
Dunderberg Mountain stands at the so-called southern gate of the Hudson Highlands where the region's namesake Hudson River enters a dramatic gorge...
in the Hudson Highlands
Hudson Highlands
The Hudson Highlands are mountains on both sides of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York, between Newburgh Bay and Haverstraw Bay, which form the northern region of the New York - New Jersey Highlands....
, the creature flew out and sat on the foremast, making the ship more likely to capsize
Capsize
Capsizing is an act of tipping over a boat or ship to disable it. The act of reversing a capsized vessel is called righting.If a capsized vessel has sufficient flotation to prevent sinking, it may recover on its own if the stability is such that it is not stable inverted...
in the rough water. The passengers and crew asked the dominie to pray.
He did, and the hobgoblin left. The next morning, its cap was discovered hanging on the church's bell tower. In attempting to get it back, the hobgoblin became imprisoned in the tower, and all succeeding spires. He will remain so, the legend says, as long as the church remains on consecrated ground. Stories claim that a small painter has been seen at work on the steeple during lightning flashes. His moans during Sunday services were mistaken for worshippers snoring
Snoring
Snoring is the vibration of respiratory structures and the resulting sound, due to obstructed air movement during breathing while sleeping. In some cases the sound may be soft, but in other cases, it can be loud and unpleasant...
.
Twice the creature is supposed to have made more direct contact with humans. A painter on the steeple in 1852 died of "painter's colic
Lead poisoning
Lead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead in the body. Lead interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues including the heart, bones, intestines, kidneys, and reproductive and nervous systems...
" when he was scared into a fall off the church, and in 1984 another painter suddenly climbed down after he claimed to have been tapped on the shoulder three times. The hobgoblin is supposed to have added an extra line to the clock face so that "XII" became "XIII".
See also
- List of National Historic Landmarks in New York
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Ulster County, New York
External links
- Church website
- Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, Main Street, Kingston, Ulster County, NY: 8 photos, 10 data pages, at Historic American Building Survey
- The Old Dutch Church, Kingston, N.Y.
- Old Dutch Organ History at Central Hudson Valley chapter of American Guild of Organists.
- Old Dutch Church birth, marriage and death records