Northport church recommended for historic landmark status, Hochul says

A Northport church that owes its roots to post-Revolutionary War circuit riders was the lone Long Island selection among 19 sites recommended for state and national landmark status by the state Board for Historic Preservation, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced last week.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, formerly a Methodist-Episcopal church, has been a village fixture for more than 175 years. The building on Main Street opened in 1873 to replace two earlier structures — one from 1834, the other whose construction began at the current location in 1852.

A listing on the state and national registers makes sites eligible for an array of public preservation programs, state grants and state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credits, officials said.

"New York’s historical places are priceless treasures that help us connect with the past and our state’s rich heritage," Hochul said in a statement. "These nominations reflect the fantastic breadth of the state’s history and the prominent role New York has played in events that helped to sculpt our nation."

"These locations provide great educational opportunities, as well as much-needed regional tourism," said Sen. Jose Serrano (D-Bronx), chairman of the State Senate Committee on Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation.

"It is the oldest congregation in Northport — and so that’s a reason it’s important," said the Rev. Bette Johnson Sohm, the church’s former pastor.

Sohm replaced the Rev. Kristina Hansen, who’d begun the landmark application process in 2018 but now is a pastor in Connecticut, at St. Paul’s. The Rev. David R. Czeisel became pastor this summer, Sohm moving to Bethel United Methodist Church on Staten Island.

"That church was there from the beginning," Sohm said of St. Paul’s, "so it’s always been a big part of the community."

Church historian Al Vitters, 75, of Fort Salonga, a West Point graduate who grew up in the church and returned after a career in the U.S. Army, said: "Landmark status is vital to retaining and preserving [the church] into the future as an important part of Northport history. We’re glad the committee sees the merit."

Horseback circuit riders first spread Methodism with tented worship meetings near Northport Harbor in 1803, leading to the formation of the then-Methodist Episcopal Church and African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in the Village.

The first church building opened in 1834 at Wood’s Corner, now Woodbine Avenue and Route 25A, and construction on a second structure began at 270 Main St. in 1852.

It includes the Dr. Heyen House as its parsonage — named for the doctor who once practiced there — and the belfry that houses a 1,228-pound bronze bell that rings in A-flat and is engraved with the words "Make a joyful noise."

Master shipbuilder Jesse Carll, oyster baron Andrew Ackerley and his brother Nathaniel, who lost an arm in the Civil War Battle of Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, were congregants, Vitters said.

Parishioners protested an invitation for Booker T. Washington, born a slave only to become the most-prominent Black man of his time, to speak at St. Paul’s, but Vitters said the speech was so well-received that Washington was later invited back. Washington, who summered in Fort Salonga, later lectured at Tuskegee Institute — which he founded — in Alabama and dined at the White House on invitation from President Theodore Roosevelt.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”