St. Paul’s Church in Salem launches bell tower campaign

There is a beautiful rural historic church in the heart of Salem, New York’s historical district with a long presence in the area that serves a small but dedicated congregation. It is St. Paul’s Episcopal Church located on East Broadway across from the Salem Central School.

In the past, its members have been able to handle repairs, upkeep of its property and so forth. But now a problem has arisen that is too much for this small congregation to handle alone. The stone work of the lovely bell tower needs extensive repair due to moisture seeping in through cracked stones and crumbling mortar. This moisture has created structural damage both to the tower, its entrance and to the interior of the north transept of the church. The issue had been addressed in prior years but repairs suggested and done only unknowingly delayed the problem.

Now St. Paul’s is reaching out to its friends and neighbors asking for help in raising the $90,000 needed to fix the problems, both exterior and interior

The genesis of St. Paul’s goes back to 1794, when a group of local Episcopalians built a church on land in Camden Valley conveyed by a lease given by the Moravian minister Abraham Bininger. Sometime in the early 1800s, the church faded from view, and today there is no trace of that building in what is now the Moravian cemetery. Pastor Bininger and his family have their final resting place where the church building once stood, and a few members of that early Episcopal congregation are buried in the cemetery grounds. For some 60 years, Salem Episcopalians had to worship in Episcopal churches in neighboring communities, even eventually holding services in Salem’s old courthouse.

It was not until 1860 when – under the leadership of the Reverend Henry Codman Potter, visiting rector from St. John’s in Troy, New York, later to be bishop of New York, and several prominent Salem residents – the cornerstone of the present church was laid. That modest brick building is now the nave of the present church.

In 1876, with the congregation expanding, the church was enlarged and the bell tower built. In 1888 the historic E. & G.G. Hook (opus 189), built in 1855, was purchased from The Unitarian Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts and first used Feb. 23, 1890. It had to be stored for a couple of years while the south transept, in which the organ was to be placed, was built.

Worship, which is the focus of St. Paul’s, is enhanced by an interior that has recently been repainted, lovely old wooden pews, a recently installed local slate floor in front of the altar, polished brass fittings in the altar rail, light streaming in through stained glass windows – five of which were created by the famed Tiffany Company – and music from its historic organ.

Follow St. Paul’s on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StPSalemNY. Donations for its bell tower repair are most welcome. Donation information is available at www.stpauls-salem.org/sign-up.