Parish History

An Episcopal missionary station was founded on Nantucket Island in 1838 by the Diocese of Connecticut.  The following year Trinity Episcopal Church was constructed on Broad Street using timbers from a former Friends’ Meeting House on the site.  When this building was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1846 Trinity Parish was formally dissolved, and a group of parishioners banded together to form a new church.

The new congregation purchased land on Fair Street and erected a simple vertical-boarded building which was consecrated in 1850.  The construction of the building almost exactly coincided with the precipitous decline in the whaling industry which thrust the island into a deep depression.  Population dropped from almost 10,000 in 1840 to 6,000 in 1860 and, at its lowest, 3,450 in 1880.  From 1859 to 1872 there was no rector.  Dedicated laymen continued to read services.   In the summers occasional visiting clergy would celebrate the Eucharist. 

In the late 1800s Nantucket enjoyed a modest land boom when it was discovered as a vacation spot.  Miss Caroline L.W. French, a summer resident from Boston, approached the vestry of St. Paul’s and offered to build a new and more substantial stone church as a memorial to her father, Jonathan French. 

The old frame church building was sold to a parishioner, placed on rollers, and moved to Beach Street where it was converted to a summer house.  The cornerstone of the new building was laid on September 5, 1901 and the new church was consecrated for use the following June.  Tiffany Studios was commissioned to design and execute nature scenes for the east and west memorial windows.  

As the years passed an adjacent house and cottage were purchased as a rectory.  In the 1960s the area beneath the church was excavated and a large meeting room, kitchen and choir-vesting quarters were created.  What had formerly been the choir room was remodeled into a small chapel with colorful stained glass windows by the Willett Studio in Philadelphia.  In the late 1980s a house on the other side of the church was purchased and a Parish House and a parking lot were created.   

In 1998 the rectory was moved from a location adjacent and connected to the church building 50 feet to the north to create space for a garden between the two buildings.  The rectory itself was renovated on 2001 and a two-story addition was built at the rear.  In 2005 the cottage, which began its life as a stable, was renovated as housing for staff.  

As the plant has grown, so have programs and membership expanded.