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Trinity Church (Newport, Rhode Island)
Encyclopedia
Trinity Church, on Queen Anne Square in Newport, Rhode Island
, is a historic parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island
. Founded in 1698, it is the oldest Episcopal parish in the state. The current Georgian building was designed by architect Richard Munday and constructed in 1725–26.
congregation began to gather about 1698. When Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont
was investigating charges of the infractions of the Navigation Acts
in Rhode Island, he requested that the Board of Trade
send a minister from England
to Rhode Island. The first church structure was built in 1700.
The present church building was constructed in 1725-26, designed by local builder Richard Munday
, who based his designs on those that he had seen that Sir Christopher Wren
had used in London churches in the late 17th century. The church's design is very similar to that of Old North Church
in Boston. Trinity, however, was built entirely of wood
. It is believed to be the only church building with its three-tiered wineglass pulpit
remaining in its original position in the center of the aisle, in front of the altar
. The building was enlarged in 1764, but otherwise retains its original character with box pew
s.
In 1731, Dean
George Berkeley
donated the first organ
, whose wooden case, decorated with the Crown of England and the mitre
s of the archbishop
s of Canterbury
and York
, survives in place. The first organist
was Charles Theodore Pachelbel
, son of the famous German
Baroque
composer Johann Pachelbel
.
The church was used as a garrison
church by the British Army
in 1776–1778. Local oral tradition reports that George Washington
attended services there in 1781. The Chevalier de Ternay
, the French
admiral who died in December 1780, is buried in the churchyard
.
Also interred here is Dr. Sylvester Gardiner
, who in 1753 purchased an immense tract of Maine
wilderness
where he founded what is now the city of Gardiner
. Many members of the Vanderbilt family
attended the church when summering in Newport.
Historical architect, Norman Isham
, restored several parts of the church in the 1920s. The church has been seen in several films, including Amistad
and Evening
. The burial service for former Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell
was held at the church in January 2009.
The current Rector is Anne Marie Richards, who hails from Olney, MD.
George Berkeley
John Jacob Astor VI
Gilbert Stuart
Claiborne Pell
Charles Theodore Pachelbel
Richard Munday
Oliver Hazard Perry
Matthew C. Perry
Clement Clarke Moore
George P. Wetmore
Silvester Gardiner
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, is a historic parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island
Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island
The Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the state of Rhode Island. It is one of seven New England dioceses that make up Province 1....
. Founded in 1698, it is the oldest Episcopal parish in the state. The current Georgian building was designed by architect Richard Munday and constructed in 1725–26.
History
The Newport, Rhode IslandNewport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
congregation began to gather about 1698. When Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont
Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont
Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont , known as The Lord Coote between 1683 and 1689, was a member of the English Parliament and a colonial governor...
was investigating charges of the infractions of the Navigation Acts
Navigation Acts
The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies, a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the...
in Rhode Island, he requested that the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
send a minister from England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
to Rhode Island. The first church structure was built in 1700.
The present church building was constructed in 1725-26, designed by local builder Richard Munday
Richard Munday
Richard Munday was a prominent colonial American architect and builder in Newport, Rhode Island.Munday built several notable public buildings in Newport between 1720 and 1739 helping to modernize the city. Christopher Wren's church of St. James at Piccadilly in London, England and Old North...
, who based his designs on those that he had seen that Sir 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...
had used in London churches in the late 17th century. The church's design is very similar to that of Old North Church
Old North Church
Old North Church , at 193 Salem Street, in the North End of Boston, is the location from which the famous "One if by land, and two if by sea" signal is said to have been sent...
in Boston. Trinity, however, was built entirely of wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
. It is believed to be the only church building with its three-tiered wineglass 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...
remaining in its original position in the center of the aisle, in front of the altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
. The building was enlarged in 1764, but otherwise retains its original character with box pew
Box pew
Box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.-History in England:...
s.
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
George Berkeley
George Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...
donated the first 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...
, whose wooden case, decorated with the Crown of England and the mitre
Mitre
The mitre , also spelled miter, is a type of headwear now known as the traditional, ceremonial head-dress of bishops and certain abbots in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as in the Anglican Communion, some Lutheran churches, and also bishops and certain other clergy in the Eastern Orthodox...
s of the archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
s of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
and York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, survives in place. The first organist
Organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
was Charles Theodore Pachelbel
Charles Theodore Pachelbel
Charles Theodore Pachelbel was a German composer, organist and harpsichordist of the late Baroque era...
, son of the famous German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
composer Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most...
.
The church was used as a garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
church by the British Army
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...
in 1776–1778. Local oral tradition reports that 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...
attended services there in 1781. The Chevalier de Ternay
Chevalier de Ternay
Charles-Henri-Louis d'Arsac de Ternay was a French naval officer. Most active in the Seven Years' War and the War of American Independence, Ternay was the naval commander of a 1762 expedition that successfully captured St. John's Newfoundland...
, the French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
admiral who died in December 1780, is buried in the churchyard
Churchyard
A churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language or Northern English language this can also be known as a kirkyard or kirkyaird....
.
Also interred here is Dr. Sylvester Gardiner
Sylvester Gardiner
Dr. Silvester Gardiner was a physician, pharmaceutical merchant and visionary land developer of Maine.He was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, the son of William Gardiner and Abigail Remington. After studying medicine in New York, London and Paris, Dr. Gardiner opened a practice in Boston,...
, who in 1753 purchased an immense tract of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
wilderness
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
where he founded what is now the city of Gardiner
Gardiner, Maine
Gardiner is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, United States. The population was 6,198 at the 2000 census. Popular with tourists, Gardiner is noted for its culture and old architecture.-History:...
. Many members of the Vanderbilt family
Vanderbilt family
The Vanderbilt family is an American family of Dutch origin prominent during the Gilded Age. It started off with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt, and expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthropy...
attended the church when summering in Newport.
Historical architect, Norman Isham
Norman Isham
Norman Morrison Isham was a prominent architectural historian, restorationist, author, and professor at Brown University and RISD.-Biography:...
, restored several parts of the church in the 1920s. The church has been seen in several films, including Amistad
Amistad (1997 film)
Amistad is a 1997 historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg based on the true story of a mutiny in 1839 by newly captured African slaves that took place aboard the ship La Amistad off the coast of Cuba, the subsequent voyage to the Northeastern United States and the legal battle that...
and Evening
Evening (film)
Evening is a 2007 German-American drama film directed by Lajos Koltai. The screenplay by Susan Minot and Michael Cunningham is based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Susan Minot.-Plot:...
. The burial service for former Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell
Claiborne Pell
Claiborne de Borda Pell was a United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997, and was best known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial aid funding to U.S. college students. A Democrat, he was that state's longest serving senator.-Early years:Pell...
was held at the church in January 2009.
The current Rector is Anne Marie Richards, who hails from Olney, MD.
Notable Parishoners
Cornelius Vanderbilt IICornelius Vanderbilt II
Cornelius Vanderbilt II was an American socialite, heir, businessman, and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family....
George Berkeley
George Berkeley
George Berkeley , also known as Bishop Berkeley , was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism"...
John Jacob Astor VI
John Jacob Astor VI
John Jacob Astor VI , known familiarly as "Jakey", was a member of the Astor family. He was born four months after his father, John Jacob Astor IV, died in the sinking of RMS Titanic.-Early life:...
Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island.Gilbert Stuart is widely considered to be one of America's foremost portraitists...
Claiborne Pell
Claiborne Pell
Claiborne de Borda Pell was a United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997, and was best known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial aid funding to U.S. college students. A Democrat, he was that state's longest serving senator.-Early years:Pell...
Charles Theodore Pachelbel
Charles Theodore Pachelbel
Charles Theodore Pachelbel was a German composer, organist and harpsichordist of the late Baroque era...
Richard Munday
Richard Munday
Richard Munday was a prominent colonial American architect and builder in Newport, Rhode Island.Munday built several notable public buildings in Newport between 1720 and 1739 helping to modernize the city. Christopher Wren's church of St. James at Piccadilly in London, England and Old North...
Oliver Hazard Perry
Oliver Hazard Perry
United States Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was born in South Kingstown, Rhode Island , the son of USN Captain Christopher Raymond Perry and Sarah Wallace Alexander, a direct descendant of William Wallace...
Matthew C. Perry
Clement Clarke Moore
Clement Clarke Moore
Clement Clarke Moore was an American professor of Oriental and Greek literature at Columbia College, now Columbia University. He donated land from his family estate for the foundation of the General Theological Seminary, where he was a professor of Biblical learning and compiled a two-volume...
George P. Wetmore
George P. Wetmore
George Peabody Wetmore was the 37th Governor and a United States Senator from Rhode Island.-Early life:George Peabody Wetmore was born in London, England, during a visit of his parents abroad. His father was William Shepard Wetmore, a wealthy Yankee trader. George Wetmore received his early...
Silvester Gardiner
Further reading
- John HattendorfJohn HattendorfJohn Brewster Hattendorf is an American naval historian. He is the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than forty books on British and American maritime history and naval warfare. In 2005, the U.S...
, Semper Eadem: A History of Trinity Church in Newport, 1698-2000 (2001). Hardcover, the Church, ISBN 0970650701 (0-9706507-0-1)