St. Mary's Church, Bedford

Several decades after the Revolution, certain parishioners of St. George's Church felt that the church building had been damaged beyond repair, having alternated between complete abandonment and occupation by thousands of troops over the course of the war. The vestry decided that the money left by St. George Talbot (the original benefactor) would be better spent securing a location for a new church than repairing the old one. In 1810, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church was built in Bedford. Forty years later, St. Mary's Church was established as a mission church of St. Matthew's to serve the population living on the outskirts of the town.

As those of you who have been following this blog for a while may be able to recognize, this little church represents the same basic model for a "country church" of the 19th century epitomized by Old St. Mark's (1852) and St. John's of Tuckahoe (1798). You will see this exact type of church replicated all over the Northeast United States.

What makes St. Mary's Church special for us is its connection to St. George's/St. Mark's. St. Mary's might be considered a "granddaughter" of St. George's, and St. Mark's is perhaps ... a reincarnation of or heir to St. George's? Regardless of what metaphors you use, it's clear that 1) St. Mary's and St. Mark's share a common lineage, and 2) their histories were similar - the former built in 1851, the latter in 1852, both built to serve  a small population of mainly farmers.

Sometime in the late 19th century, however, the histories of the churches diverge. While the town around St. Mark's grew, leading to increasing numbers of parishioners, St. Mary's remained - and still is - a country church serving a small congregation (while at the church I happened to run into a member of the vestry, who told me that about 25-35 people attend St. Mary's, which is only open a few times a year*). You can see from these photos that the landscape around St. Mary's is still quite rural and very beautiful, whereas the St. George's/St. Mark's Cemetery is pinned between a parking garage and a bagel shop.

In fact, the forces that would transform the town around St. Mark's into a suburban center were already in place by the time the two churches were built. The railroad came to the town in 1847, providing direct access to New York City. Bedford is not on the railroad line. The growth in the St. Mark's congregation would ultimately lead to the construction of a new church closer to the center of town.

This image might be interesting to those of you who have participated in and/or followed the dig. This part of the church was most likely an addition made after its original construction in 1851, so I can't say how old it is. But look at the size of the rocks in the foundation. Aren't they enormous? They are about the same size as the large quarried boulders we found in Feature 1 and Feature 3. They are not shaped - meaning that they haven't been cut into a more manageable shape, but rather have been used pretty much "as is," with the smaller rocks fitted around them. Now imagine if the foundation walls toppled over and were left there for 100 years. We might very well expect to find something like what we observed in Features 1 and 3. But let me know what you think.

*Special thanks to vestrywoman Ms. W for answering my questions about St. Mary's Church.