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From: "Jeff & Gina Nestor" <>
Subject: [WASH] History of Old St. Luke Church in Observer Reporter today
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2001 21:15:52 -0400



Monday, July 16, 2001

Marking A Link To Area History

BY MICHAEL BRADWELL
THE OBSERVER-REPORTER



HEIDELBERG - Old St. Luke Church, Southwestern Pennsylvania's oldest
Episcopal Church, was recognized Sunday for the role it played in shaping
some of the country's earliest history.
During a brief dedication ceremony Sunday afternoon, about 100 people
witnessed the unveiling of a Pennsylvania Historical Marker in front of the
old stone church, its burial ground and garden, which sit on a knoll above
Chartiers Creek, just off Old Washington Pike in Scott Township.

Several speakers noted that in addition to being a significant historic site
from early American history, the church also has survived several periods of
disuse and decline during its lifetime.
The property originally was the site of a log stockade erected by the
British army to help protect Fort Duquesne from Indian attacks. The parish
register shows that regular church services were held by the chaplains of
the regiments stationed there.

Maj. William Lea, a member of Gen. John Forbes' 1758 expedition to Fort
Duquesne, set aside a plot for the church and burial ground in 1765 from his
tract of 335 acres. Lea's first child was baptized in the log stockade
church in December 1774.

In 1790, a frame church was erected, and the Rev. Francis Reno was made
vicar of St. Luke's "Church of Chartiers." Prominent in the congregation was
Gen. John Neville, an unpopular tax collector in the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion
that disrupted the area and caused a schism in the congregation. It is
believed that the church was the meeting place for Federalist neighbors
during the Whiskey Rebellion.

Dr. Leroy Patrick of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission noted
that Neville made sure that Reno "got a proper schooling" as a pastor,
reflecting the Church of England's "passion for learned ministers."
Patrick also noted that Sunday's dedication was intended to recognize all of
the forebears of the church.
"In a turbulent era they tried to keep the true Gospel alive," he said.

That turbulence was later amplified by state Sen. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St.
Clair, who noted that the veterans of the French and Indian War who settled
in the Chartiers Creek area after the war "had to worry about Indian attacks
and the whiskey tax."

As tensions mounted over the Whiskey Rebellion, surrounding counties were
ordered to gather revenues to pay for the expenses the country had incurred
from the Revolutionary War, Murphy added. Neville, who was a tax collector,
"managed to stay around," but residents later marched on his house, shot him
and burned down the house, he said.

"Many perhaps don't even know how important this region was in our nation's
history," Murphy said, noting that had the outcomes of events such as the
Whiskey Rebellion been different, the country might have taken an entirely
different direction.

Following the region's strife, President George Washington pardoned those
who had opposed the government in the Whiskey Rebellion. Murphy said he
believes sermons given at the church would have "rung out for people to
enjoy peace and have love for one another."

The stone church was built in 1872. According to a church history, the
building is unique because of its Gothic arches using locally quarried
stone. In later years, a stone from the quarries of King Solomon's Temple
and a stone from the English ancestral home of George Washington were placed
in the church walls.
The church also contains a Joseph Harvey pipe organ built in London in 1823,
the first pipe organ to be brought over the Allegheny mountains by pack
mule.

While it served as a house of worship and a site where people met to help
decide the future direction of the country, the church also has been able to
survive threats to its survival, thanks to the help of many people who
recognized its historical significance. Some of those were members of St.
Paul Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon.

Richard Pollard, a member of St. Paul's, noted that St. Luke's was "shut
down and largely abandoned" in 1930, prompting St. Paul's members to
organize early restoration efforts.

After the church was returned to sound physical condition, it again became
idle in the 1960s, Pollard said, noting that in 1974, the Episcopal Church
decided it could either be donated to Scott Township, sold to another church
or torn down.

A second restoration effort, led by the Rev. Victor Zook, was begun in the
mid-1970s and continues to the present, Pollard added, noting that the
church is now the site of 30 marriage vows each year. In addition, the
burial grounds contain the remains of "faithful churchgoers" whose
gravesites continue to be tended.
"This is a very, very special place," Pollard said. "This is sacred ground,
thanks be to God."
The historical marker dedicated Sunday reads:

"Oldest Episcopal Church in Southwestern Pennsylvania, founded after the
French and Indian War by veteran Maj. William Lea on his land grant. Francis
Reno was the first vicar. Church members included Gen. John Neville, the
unpopular tax collector in the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion that disrupted the
area and unsettled the congregation. Renewed interest in 1852 led to this
stone church, with its 1823 English pipe organ, the first brought over the
Alleghenies."


Copyright ©2001 Observer Publishing Co.

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