St. John’s in Monticello
NEW YORK – The New York Landmarks Conservancy, a private non-profit organization, has awarded Sacred Sites grants to three area historic religious properties.
St. John’s Episcopal Church in Monticello will receive $6,000 to help fund a conditions assessment and master plan to guide restoration of the church, and productive reuse of the historic rectory and barn.
Founded in 1816, the current stone church is the parish’s second building. Designed by noted architect Henry Dudley, and completed in 1880, the Gothic-revival, cruciform plan church was constructed of local stone laid in a random, quarry-face ashlar pattern. St. John’s hosts a food pantry that helps households in Monticello with groceries. There are three English and one Spanish-language AA groups. The church also collaborates with Nesin Cultural Arts to provide no- or low-cost art and music instruction to children in the community.
The First Reformed Church of Athens, an 1825 building that was later
altered in the mid-19th century with Gothic-revival details, was pledged
$10,000 toward repairs to the steeple and dormers.
First Presbyterian Church in Hudson was pledged $25,000 toward structural repairs of the roof at the mid-19th century church constructed of locally quarried limestone.
“Religious institutions combine architecture, history, personal and communal memories that help define our localities,” said Landmarks Conservancy President Peg Breen. “They are important to preserve for all these reasons, as well as for the cultural and social service programs so many religious buildings house.”
