St. Columba's Chapel in Middletown,

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

, is a parish church of the

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. The former Episcopal seat of the ...

of the Episcopal Church. The church is located at 55 Vaucluse Avenue, Middletown,

. The chapel is named for the Irish-born missionary St. Columba, renowned for his teaching, healing, and miracles in sixth-century

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

History

Eugene Sturtevant and his wife, Mary Clark Sturtevant, daughter of Thomas March Clark, Bishop of Rhode Island and later presiding Episcopal Bishop of the U.S, donated an acre of land in 1882 for a chapel to serve the neighboring community. The church was originally known as The Berkeley Memorial Chapel in honor of Bishop George Berkeley of Derry. The cornerstone of the chapel was laid on October 11, 1884. The first service was held on June 23, 1885, even though the chapel was not complete. The chapel was consecrated on August 31, 1886, as a mission of the

by Bishop Clark. In its early history, the chapel had a close association with Saint George's School in Middletown. Many of the ordained teachers officiated at services, and before the school's own chapel was built, boys walked to St. Columba's for Sunday worship. The chapel contains a collection of eleven stained-glass windows, ten by David Maitland Armstrong, executed by Tiffany Studio. The eleventh window, by an unknown artist, was donated by actor Edwin Booth, brother of

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth ...

, and his daughter, Edwina, in memory of Edwina's mother, Mary Devlin. The churchyard is distinguished by an English

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

Churchyard

A number of significant persons, mostly from "Newport society", are buried in St. Columba's churchyard (a.k.a. Berkeley Memorial Cemetery). They include the following: *United States Senator

Claiborne Pell Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...

Dorrance Hill Hamilton Dorrance "Dodo" Hill Hamilton (August 16, 1928 – April 18, 2017) was an American heiress of the Campbell Soup fortune and philanthropist who founded the SVF Foundation in Newport, Rhode Island and preserved Hammersmith Farm. She was one of the wea ...

- philanthropist *Prince Serge Mdivani - socialite *

Joseph Washington Frazier Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

- industrialist *

Frazier Jelke Frazier is a Scottish surname. Notable people with the surname include: __NOTOC__ A * Adam Frazier (born 1991), American baseball player B *Brenda Frazier (1921-1982), American “celebutante” socialite during the Depression era C *Calvin ...

- oleomargarine magnate *Commander Hugo W. Koehler, USN - international man of mystery *

John Russell Pope John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an American architect whose firm is widely known for designing major public buildings, including the National Archives and Records Administration building (completed in 1935), the Jeff ...

- architect *

Raphael Pumpelly Raphael Pumpelly (September 8, 1837 – August 10, 1923) was an American geologist and explorer. Biography Early life and ancestors He was born on September 8, 1837, in Owego, New York, into a family with deep New England roots that trace back ...

- explorer and geologist *Dr. Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr. - surgeon, geologist and explorer *Brigadier General

James Henry Van Alen James Henry Van Alen (August 17, 1819 – July 22, 1886) was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Early life James Henry Van Alen was born in 1819, in Kinderhook, New York. He was the only son of James I. Van Ale ...

, USV - Civil War general *

Jimmy Van Alen James Henry Van Alen II (September 19, 1902 – July 3, 1991) was an American tennis official and former player. Van Alen was a poet, musician, publisher, civic leader, and raconteur. He was best known for his influence of tennis, especially for ...

- founder of the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

* Varick Frissell - filmmaker *Admiral Harry E. Yarnell, USN

External links

Maher Stained Glass St. Columba's Chapel restoration project
Episcopal churches in Rhode Island Churches completed in 1836 19th-century Episcopal church buildings {{RhodeIsland-church-stub