St. Mary's Episcopal Church is a historic

Episcopal Episcopal may refer to: *Of or relating to a bishop, an overseer in the Christian church *Episcopate, the see of a bishop – a diocese *Episcopal Church (disambiguation), any church with "Episcopal" in its name ** Episcopal Church (United States ...

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in Burlington, Burlington County,

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. The original church was built in 1703. It was supplemented with a new church on adjacent land in 1854. On May 31, 1972, the new church was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and on June 24, 1986, it was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

. It is within the Burlington Historic District.

Old church

In 1695 settlers acquired land for a cemetery at West Broad and Wood streets. In 1702 the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...

sent Anglican missionaries from England to New Jersey. One of them, John Talbot, became rector of St. Mary's Church (built in 1703) in 1705. It is the first and oldest Episcopal congregation in New Jersey. As the congregation grew, parishioners decided to build a new, larger church. They commissioned

Richard Upjohn Richard Upjohn (22 January 1802 – 16 August 1878) was a British-American architect who immigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to popula ...

to design it. In 1846, construction began on adjoining land at 145 West Broad Street. It was consecrated in 1854.

New church

New St. Mary's Church was constructed between 1846 and 1854. It is one of the earliest attempts in the United States to "follow a specific English medieval church model for which measured drawings existed." This

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

-style church was designed by

, who modeled it after St. John's Church in

Shottesbrooke Shottesbrooke is a hamlet (place), hamlet and civil parish administered by the unitary authority of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire. The hamlet is mostly rural: 88% covered by agriculture or wood ...

, England. It helped to firmly establish Upjohn as a practitioner of Gothic design. It is a massive brownstone church with a long nave. The crossing is topped by a tall stone spire that has eight bells cast in England in 1865 by Thomas Mears II at the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

. It has been designated as a

Fire

In 1976 while renovations were being done to the church a mistake made by one of the workers led to a fire which caused extreme roof and interior damage. The fire was discovered in the early AM hours of April 15, 1976, Holy Thursday. Eventually, a general alarm fire was declared bringing hundreds of firemen from Burlington City, Burlington Township, Beverly-Edgewater Park, and Willingboro in New Jersey as well as Bristol across the bridge in Pennsylvania.

Gallery

Image:BurlingtonNJ OldStMarysChurch.jpg, Old St. Mary's Church Image:BurlingtonNJ NewStMarysChurch 03.jpg, New St. Mary's Church Image:St John the Baptist Shottesbrooke 2.jpg, Church in Shottesbrooke

Notable burials

Joseph Bloomfield Joseph Bloomfield (October 18, 1753October 3, 1823) was the fourth governor of New Jersey. He also served two terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1817 to 1821. The township of Bloomfield, New Jersey, is named for him. Birt ...

(1753–1823),

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

. *

Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was an American Founding Father, lawyer, statesman, and early abolitionist and women's rights advocate. During the Revolutionary War, Boudinot was an intelligence officer and prisoner-of-wa ...

(1740–1821),

President of the Continental Congress The president of the United States in Congress Assembled, known unofficially as the president of the Continental Congress and later as president of the Congress of the Confederation, was the presiding officer of the Continental Congress, the con ...

from 1782 to 1783. * William Bradford (1755–1795),

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

Daniel Coxe Daniel Coxe III ( – 19 January 1730) was an English physician and governor of West Jersey from 1687 to 1688 and 1689 to 1692. Biography The Coxe family traced their lineage to a Daniel Coxe who lived in Somersetshire, England, in the 13th ce ...

, Governor of

West Jersey West Jersey and East Jersey were two distinct parts of the Province of New Jersey. The political division existed for 28 years, between 1674 and 1702. Determination of an exact location for a border between West Jersey and East Jersey was often ...

George Washington Doane George Washington Doane (May 27, 1799 – April 27, 1859) was an American churchman, educator, and the second bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal Church for the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey, Diocese of New ...

(1799–1859), second bishop of the

Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey The Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey forms part of Province II of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It is made up of the southern and central New Jersey counties of Union, Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Mercer, Monmouth ...

. *

Rowland Ellis Rowland Ellis ( – 1 July 1731) was a Welsh-born landowner and politician who immigrated to the Province of Pennsylvania where he spent the rest of his life. Ellis was born in Wales. The owner of the "Bryn Mawr" farm near Dolgellau, Merion ...

* Edward Burd Grubb Jr. (1841–1913), American Civil War Brevet Brigadier General. *

Franklin D'Olier Franklin D'Olier (April 28, 1877December 10, 1953) was an American businessman who served as the first national commander of The American Legion from 1919 to 1920. He was also the grandfather of academic writer and poet F. D. Reeve, and the g ...

, founder of the

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* James Kinsey (1731–1803), Chief Justice of the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases cha ...

from 1789 to 1803. *

Joseph McIlvaine Joseph McIlvaine (October 2, 1769August 19, 1826) was a United States senator from New Jersey from 1823 until his death. He served as the Mayor of Burlington, New Jersey, from 1816 to 1823. Biography McIlvaine was born in Bristol, Pennsylva ...

(1769–1826), represented New Jersey in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

from 1823 to 1826. * William Milnor (1769–1848), member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and

Mayor of Philadelphia The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Cherelle Parker, who is the first woman to hold the ...

. *

William H. Odenheimer William Henry Odenheimer (August 11, 1817 – August 14, 1879) was the third Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey and the first of Northern New Jersey. Early life Odenheimer was born in Philadelphia in 1817, the son of John W. Odenheimer and Henrietta ...

, third Bishop of New Jersey *

Isabel Paterson Isabel Paterson (January 22, 1886 – January 10, 1961) was a Canadian-American libertarian writer and literary critic. Historian Jim Powell has called Paterson one of the three founding mothers of American libertarianism, along with Ros ...

(1886–1961),

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

author. * John H. Pugh (1827–1905), represented

New Jersey's 2nd congressional district New Jersey's 2nd congressional district, based in South Jersey, Southern New Jersey, is represented by Republican Jeff Van Drew. He was first elected as a Democrat in 2018, but announced on December 19, 2019, that he would be switching parties ...

from 1877 to 1879. * Garret D. Wall (1783–1850), United States Senator from 1835 to 1841. * James Walter Wall (1820–1872), United States Senator and Mayor of

Burlington, New Jersey Burlington is a City (New Jersey), city situated on the banks of the Delaware River in Burlington County, New Jersey, Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 United States census, the c ...

.James Walter Wall

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress The ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'' (Bioguide) is a biographical dictionary of all present and former members of the United States Congress and its predecessor, the Continental Congress. Also included are Delegates fr ...

. Accessed August 15, 2007.

References

External links

Church websiteSt. Mary's Churchyard
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 Politics of the United States, American political figures and List of United States political families, political families, along with other informa ...

Saint Marys Episcopal Churchyard
at Find A Grave {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Marys Episcopal Church, Burlington, New Jersey Churches completed in 1854 Churches completed in 1703 Burlington, New Jersey National Historic Landmarks in New Jersey Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Gothic Revival church buildings in New Jersey Cemeteries in Burlington County, New Jersey Anglican cemeteries in the United States Episcopal church buildings in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Burlington County, New Jersey 18th-century Episcopal church buildings 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Cemeteries on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Cemeteries established in the 1840s