Trinity Church (Newport, Rhode Island)

Infobox_nrhp | name =Trinity Church
nrhp_type =nhl


caption = Front view of church and steeple, 2008
location= 141 Spring Street, at Church Street, Newport, Rhode Island
lat_degrees = 41
lat_minutes = 29
lat_seconds = 15
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 71
long_minutes = 18
long_seconds = 50
long_direction = W
locmapin = Rhode Island
area =
built =1725
architect= Munday,Richard
architecture= Georgian
designated= November 24, 1968cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=761&ResourceType=Building
title=Trinity Church (Newport) |accessdate=2008-02-21|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = November 24, 1968cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Private church
refnum=68000004

Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island is the oldest Episcopal parish in Rhode Island. The Newport, Rhode Island 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 was built in 1700. The present church was built 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 pews.In 1731, Dean George Berkeley donated the first organ, whose wooden case, decorated with the Crown of England and the mitres of the archbishops 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. Le 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.

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".

References

Further reading

* John Hattendorf, "Semper Eadem: A History of Trinity Church in Newport, 1698-2000" (2001). Hardcover, the Church, ISBN 0970650701 (0-9706507-0-1)

External links

* [http://www.trinitynewport.org Trinity Church, Newport - Parish Website]