New London – The Pequot Chapel is a remnant of a bygone era, a time when the New London shoreline was home to one of the state’s most attractive summer resort communities - the Pequot Colony.

The chapel at 857 Montauk Avenue is not only an important vestige of the period between 1852 and 1930 that brought wealthy families, politicians and dignitaries to the area but it has stayed in constant use through the years.

The chapel celebrated its 150th anniversary on Sunday with a special service and reception that was open to the public. Andrew Walker, presiding officer of the chapel’s board of trustees, said the chapel has attracted a rotating schedule of ministers from various denominations for summer services through the years.

Walker’s own grandfather, Thomas Huntington Chappell, led services at the chapel for decades. Father Henry “Hank” Burdick was also a longtime visitor to the chapel and proved to be one of the larger draws, he said.

The chapel was founded by Henry Crocker, manager of the sprawling Pequot House hotel, as a convenience for guests. The Pequot House was located at the corner of Pequot and Glenwood avenues. The chapel, incorporated in 1872, allowed visitors in the hotel and owners of the nearby estates to have a local house of worship and avoid a walk or horse drawn carriage ride into town.

The area is now part of the Pequot Colony Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The historic district encompasses Chapel Drive, Crocker Street, Gardner and Glenwood avenues, Hall Street, Harbor Lane, Lower Boulevard and Montauk and Pequot avenues.

The chapel is a Gothic Revival Style building whose design is attributed to James Renwick, best known for designing the “Castle” for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

The chapel is also home to two Louis Comfort Tiffany windows, donated in 1895 by the family that had donated the land for the chapel. Tiffany had been a regular summer visitor to the Pequot House.

The chapel has been hosting interfaith services, weddings, funerals and patriotic and religious concerts through the years. It stayed open through the influenza epidemic in 1918-19 and it hosted a virtual service in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the record of continuity remained unbroken. The Rev. Florence Clarke, retired pastor at Clark Walls Temple AME Zion Church in New London, preached the sermon in 2020.

New London resident Ann Burdick has been a trustee and treasurer for the chapel for more than four decades. Growing up, she lived around the corner from the chapel and attended services with her mother. She was married at the chapel and so were her two children.

Aside from what it means to her personally, Burdick said “it’s just a very beautiful chapel to begin with and just the history behind it.”

Restoration and maintenance of the church is mostly paid through grants, private donations and a trust fund. Restoration work most recently has included a new roof, updated bathroom and steeple repairs.

The chapel recently became a stop on one of the tours hosted by the Thames River Heritage Park.

g.smith@theday.com