Boscobel

St. Philip’s as it appears today.

St. Philip’s in the Highlands is an Episcopalian church that was originally founded by Beverly Robinson, one of the Hudson Valley’s most prominent loyalists. A devout Anglican, Robinson built the chapel to service the other Anglicans living on his 60,000 acre estate in lower Dutchess (now Putnam) County. The estate included the entirety of the modern town of Putnam Valley, and parts of Philipstown, Kent, Patterson, and Garrison.

            St. Philip’s suffered from a turbulent beginning. Opening its doors in 1771, the small congregation was quickly divided by the American Revolution. The Wardens and Vestrymen of the Revolutionary Generation were divided almost evenly by the war, with members rising to prominence on both sides of the conflict. Most famous of these was Beverly Robinson himself, who raised a loyalist regiment (the Loyal Americans) to fight for the King and was intimately involved with both the treason of Benedict Arnold and attempts to lure Vermont’s Ethan Allen to the British cause.

Colonel Beverly Robinson, from Benson Lossing’s Fieldbook of the American Revolution

            Robinson ultimately suffered for his allegiance to the Crown. He was attainted (declared an outlaw) by New York State in 1777, and as such was subject to be executed on site and buried “without benefit of clergy” should he ever be found in New York again. His home and property were confiscated in 1779, an estimated value of ₤148,000 (by way of comparison, States Dyckman was able to live comfortably in London on ₤200 a year). Robinson settled in England after the war, and died in Bath on April 9, 1792.

A memorial plaque dedicated to Beverly Robinson that hangs near the baptismal font at St. Philip’s.

            St. Philip’s fared little better than its chief benefactor during the War. The chapel closed its doors in 1774 when its minister, John Doty, fled the area for Schenectady in the face of the Revolution.  The vacant church grounds were used by as a camp ground by the American and French armies, due to the abundant timber resources in region and the church’s location directly across from West Point. The American forces were largely made of New England Congregationalists, who had little love of the Anglican Church. The church was gravely damaged by these troops, who its fencing and walls for firewood or the construction of winter “hutts.” From this period in the Church’s history comes one of its most famous stories: Supposedly, as a band of drunken New Englanders were on their way to burn down the chapel, George Washington himself ran ahead of them, stood in the doorway of the church, and boldly declared “This is my church!” A stained glass window by the church’s door marks this event; however, it is somewhat unlikely that it ever occurred. A history of the church, written by E. Clowes Chorely in 1912, makes no mention of an attempt to burn St. Philip’s down. Rather, Chorely reports that Washington, an Anglican himself, commented on the church being his own when one of his aides picked it out as “a Tory church.”

The aforementioned stained glass window.

            After the war, the parishioners of St. Philip’s struggled to rebuild. Funding to rebuild the church was raised by two of Robinson’s more affluent tenants, William Denning and Mr. Olgive. However, St. Philip’s struggles were not over. In the 1790’s, the local Presbyterian congregation, which had aided in the reconstruction, attempted to seize possession of the chapel. The congregation also had trouble securing a stable minister, with several rectors leaving St. Philip’s for successful careers elsewhere in the Episcopal Church. In 1862, the rebuilt wooden chapel was replaced by a stone structure that still stands today.

            To learn more about the history of St. Philip’s in the Highlands, please visit their website at http://stphilips.highlands.com/