History

Worshippers gathered with nothing but the open heavens over their bowed heads and sea gulls singing Gloria.ed with nothing but the open heavens over their bowed heads and sea gulls singing Gloria.

As Narragansett grew as a fashionable summer seaside resort in the early 19th Century, so did the desire for a place of Christian worship. 

A wealthy Philadelphian businessman, Joseph Heatly Dulles, great-grandfather to the future Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, decided to fill the void.  On Sunday afternoons during the summer of 1852, he gathered an ecumenical group of worshippers at Indian Rock (near Hazard Road) to worship following the Book of Common Prayer.  This group continued to meet at Indian Rock every summer through 1856. After 1856, the summer services were held in larger residents and eventually in the dining hall of the Narragansett House. The parish of Saint Peter’s-by-the-Sea descends from this group of worshippers. 

The inhabitants of Narragansett, then a part of the Town of Kingstown, were able to attend Episcopal services year-round at either St. Paul’s (originally St. Luke’s) in Tower Hill or Church of the Ascension in Wakefield.  The rector of the Church of the Ascension, the Reverend Samuel P. Kelly, began holding winter services in Narragansett and saw the need for a parish in the town. 

The Diocese issued a donation call for the building of a church in August, 1868. Three thousand dollars were raised and Kate Chase Sprague pledged the remainder to cover the $4,000 construction cost.  (Kate Chase was the daughter of Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln and then Chief Justice of the United States.  She was a very popular Washington society hostess.  Kate married William Sprague, Governor of Rhode Island.  Their home was Canochet Hall in Narragansett.)

Due to the successful fund raising, a committee was commissioned to build a wood-framed church capable of sitting 500.  As the church was being erected, St. Peter’s was incorporated in the State of Rhode Island on February, 1869.  The church was opened for worship on July 11, 1869.

The glory of worshipping in this new building was short lived.  On September 8, 1869 a Nor’easter blew through Narragansett and leveled the new structure.  The only things salvaged were a wooden cross and an unshattered stain glass window.  That very day, parishioners met in the ruins and vowed to rebuild, this time in stone. St. Peter’s by-the-Sea rose from that pile of splintered wood, both physically and spiritually.  On August 8, 1870, the cornerstone was laid for the current structure. 

The congregation met in Canonchet Hall from 1870-1873. On St. Peter’s Day, June 29, 1873, the new church was opened. At the Diosesan Convention of 1875, St. Peter’s was granted parochial status as an independent parish. 

The Building

The church building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

It is English Gothic in style.  Providence architect E. L. Howland designed the building. Howard Budlong was the builder. The porch was added in 1879 by Mrs. Anna W. Lapsley as a memorial to her daughter Miss Sarah C. Lapsley. The transept and bell tower were added in 1894. The bell tower was donated by Mrs. Anna Randolph Welch as a memorial to her husband, Samuel Welch. 

The sanctuary has numerous stained-glass windows which range from 75 to 150 years old and which fall into three stylistic categories:  traditional Gothic Revival, American Opalescent, and Ornamental. Two of the windows are from the famed Tiffany Studios. 

The walls in the forward part of the sanctuary are beautifully detailed and hand painted. 

A three-story parish house was constructed on the property in 1900 for parish and community use. At that time, it included bowling alleys and other athletic equipment.  

The parish house was connected to the main building via the Ruffino Hall in 2005. New office areas, a conference room, bathrooms and a lower basement space were added. In 2014, a major renovation of the sanctuary was completed together with a kitchen upgrade.

The sanctuary underwent a second major, detailed restoration completed in 2017.