by David Flint
The Stephentown Baptist Church, now known as the Church at the Crossroads, will be closing its doors next week. The Church is being dissolved and the remaining congregation will disperse to other churches in the area, thus ending 218 years of ministry in Stephentown.
[private]Ten years after the Town was formed out of the Rensselaerwyck patroonship, Edward Carr, in 1794, led a group that met at the home of Joshua Gardner to plan the building of a house of worship. Gardner donated the land, and a church was built the following year on a hillside where now is located the Stephentown Cemetery. Formal recognition from the Baptists came in 1796, and Rev. Robert Niles was chosen as the first Pastor. The Church was designated the Second Baptist Church of Stephentown as the First Baptist Church had been formed in 1783 in Berlin, part of Stephentown at that time. When Berlin was separated from Stephentown in 1806 it became the First Baptist Church of Stephentown.
A history of the Church by Pastor L. A. Cummins in 1896 states that the original church building was “a lofty structure, seated with old fashioned box pews and had a large gallery around three sides.”
In 1846 the Church was disassembled and rebuilt in its present location on Main Street near the intersection of Route 22.
The Church records written longhand in old ledger books starting on “June the 12th 1796,” along with a treasure trove of other old documents and bibles, will be turned over to the safekeeping of the Stephentown Historical Society. Among the records is a list of pledges showing the total cost of the new meeting house in 1795 to be 608 pounds and 13 shillings. There is also a pew map from about 1800 showing the seating of worshippers and a map of the “Baptist Burying Yard” enlarged in 1851 and again in 1860. One of the old bibles indicates that it was purchased from “volunteer contributions from the young female members of the Church in 1836.” The SHS will also take possession of the silver communion service donated in 1879 by Augusta Y. Cranston. The bell in the belfry will be given to the West Stephentown Baptist Church. The building itself along with the parsonage will be put up for sale.
Pastor Al Wolcott and Deaconess Cindy Schaeffer have reluctantly and sadly agreed with the congregation that it is time to move on. Wolcott has been Pastor since 1987. He was born in Peekskill but came to this area at a young age. Attending the First Baptist Church of Stephentown from age 5 to 17, he went away to college and returned as its Pastor 20 years later. In the meantime he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in music education from Nyack College and a Master of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary. It was while working with youth groups in Pennsylvania, and encouraging some to enter the ministry, that he was challenged by a young girl as to why he did not himself heed what was apparently his calling. Wolcott accepted the challenge and has never regretted it.
The Church will close with a final service on Sunday, June 29, starting at 2 pm. All are invited to attend and participate in the service and in a joyful remembrance of times past at the Church that was a big part of Stephentown’s history for so many years.
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