The History Of The Stone Church

This beautiful chapel was designed in the late Nineteenth Century by Frederick Dellenbaugh at the
request of Eliza Hartshorn, as a memorial to her late husband, Dr. Isaac Hartshorn. Mrs. Hartshorn
provided the land and bore all the expenses. Work began in 1895 under the direction of local mason John Keir and was completed the following year, despite Mr. Keir’s death in the intervening winter. The 900- pound tower bell was raised on June 19, 1897, and the first service was held the next day.
Although the chapel was dedicated as an Episcopal church under the general charge of an Episcopal
priest, Rev. Daniel Odell, it was never a parish with a rector or a governing vestry. In its early years, it
supported the activities of an Episcopal lay order, the Brothers of Nazareth, who operated it much like the Hospice of St. Bernard in Switzerland, which Mrs. Hartshorn had admired during her travels.
The chapel was built out of native fieldstone and looks much the same today as it did when it was
consecrated. When you visit the church, you can look at the many stained glass windows, particularly
those close to the altar, and the exquisite rose window high in the western wall, designed by the Lamb
Studios of New York. The window was given to the chapel in 1932 by Frederick Dellenbaugh in memory of his wife, Harriet, who died in 1930. Mrs. Dellenbaugh is remembered in the inscription at the top of the window, which reads in part, “Her smile was like a benediction.”
Upon Mrs. Hartshorn’s death in 1916, ownership of the chapel passed to Rev. Odell, who then gave it to the Altar Guild of the Episcopal Church in 1922. Today, the chapel is owned by the Episcopal Diocese of New York, but since 1995 it has been operated by Friends of the Stone Church, a nondenominational organization which assumes all costs of maintaining the chapel in its original condition. Weekly Sunday services are held from Memorial Day to Labor Day with rotating worship leaders. The church has also become a very popular venue for weddings, which supply income for the continuing renovation of the church. A memorial arch dedicated to another patron of the church, Julia West, the Founder of the Altar Guild, stands on the north side of the church and provides panoramic views of the Rondout Valley and the Catskills. Friends of the Stone Church keep the chapel open to visitors every day from Easter to Christmas, closing during the harsh winter weather.
For more information, you can download this article published in the Cragsmoor Historical Journal.