Show plan to restore old st paul s in mt vernon vemon announcement that st pauls east cl chester iester episcopal church in mount vernon would bo be made into a national historic and religious shrine recalls that the original church ot of that name was built before MS it Is the plan of the rector rev W harold resident chaplain of the episcopal actors guild and hla his vestry to restore the present church which Is one hundred sixty seven years old to establish a museum and to build an outdoor sanctuary in one corner of the graveyard A drive for fop 3 oooo with which to make the transformation Is being started by the parish st pauls eastchester East Easte chester liester Is older by a few years than st pauls chapel broadway Bron dway and fulton street which was built by tile the british anti and later became part of the trinity parish of the protestant episcopal church chur cli the parish of st pauls Enst Easte chester liester goes much further back and Is one of the oldest in america hospital in revolution services have been held there for years with only one break that was when the building was commandeered na as a hospital in the revolutionary war the church stands near the intersection of south columbus avenue and south third avenue mount blount vernon accessible by way of the boston post road or the Kings kingsbridge bridge road station of the new york westchester and boston railroad it was a center of worship before there was a good road to boston it has bus a churchyard with gravestones dating back 1 16 years or 72 years before our government was founded aaron burr practiced law there when the church was used as a courthouse the names of many families linked to the early development of our country wore were on the rolls of the old for church ground fought over located in the very path of the revolutionary struggle old st pauls was in ili the area traversed in going to connecticut and new england just eighteen miles north of the settlement of new york the strip between long island sound and the hudson was the famous neutral ground of american history because it was not for long in the hands either of the british or the Colonl colonials als the present stone edifice stands on the very spot occupied by the first meeting house and Is the third building ing which has served the parish surrounding eastchester East chester green it appears to have started near an indian path which subsequently became aln road it was called in the early days after anne hutchinson it retained this title until when by royal charter it was enacted that the plantation shall continue and retain ye name of east chester the name was taken from that of chester england |