The Old Southeast Church is located at the end of a short dirt road leading from NY 22 in the Town of Southeast, New York, United States, a few miles north of the village of Brewster. It is a wooden building formerly used by a Presbyterian congregation. Built in the late 18th century and later modified following a fire, it is the oldest house of worship in Putnam County. Today many of its materials are intact but it is the subject of ongoing

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

efforts. It and a small one-room schoolhouse nearby are the few remaining buildings from the former hamlet of Doanesburgh, once the commercial center of eastern Putnam County. In 1972 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the first property in the county to be so listed. It is currently owned by the Landmarks Preservation Society of Southeast and is used occasionally as a cultural center.

Building

The church is a two-story, three-by-four-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

building sided in white clapboard. It is regularly fenestrated with 12-over-12 double-hung sash windows in all bays. The gabled roof has a projecting steeple on the west end, right over the main entrance. That entrance leads to a

vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...

and then inside to the sanctuary. It features wainscoting beneath the chair rail as well as paneling on the gallery parapet, and painted and grained pews. The gallery and ceiling are supported by

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

columns, and the original 19th-century light fixtures.

History

The first church in the area was built of logs in the late 1730s. In 1761, a small frame

meeting house A meeting house (meetinghouse, meeting-house) is a building where religious and sometimes public meetings take place. Terminology Nonconformist Protestant denominations distinguish between a * church, which is a body of people who believe in Chr ...

was built to strict standards for such buildings, measuring with the entrance south of the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

. Three decades later, in 1793, the congregation decided to expand again and was authorized to use as much or as little of the meetinghouse as necessary to build a newer building. It was completed the following year. In 1830 the building was severely damaged in a fire. When it was rebuilt, a number of alterations were made to both interior and exterior. The entrance was moved to its present location, the belfry built and the balcony reoriented. Two brick chimneys were also dismantled and can be seen only from the inside. At the time it was built, the church was in the middle of the hamlet of Doanesburgh, then the commercial center of eastern Putnam County. In the mid-19th century, the

New York and Harlem Railroad The New York and Harlem Railroad (now the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line) was one of the first railroads in the United States, and was the world's first street railway. Designed by John Stephenson, it was opened in stages between 1832 and ...

was built, connecting the region more directly to New York City. It chose a route that bypassed Doanesburgh for the Great Swamp, passing through Brewster, currently still in use as far north as Wassaic by Metro-North's Harlem Line. Brewster prospered and grew while Doanesburgh diminished, and the church and school are among the few remnants today.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Former churches in New York (state) Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Churches completed in 1794 18th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States Former Presbyterian churches in New York (state) Churches in Putnam County, New York National Register of Historic Places in Putnam County, New York 1794 establishments in New York (state)