I doubled its authenticity, but it was revered in a way similar to the Shroud of Turin. The old guide, a priest if I recall, showed us an actual lantern hung for Paul Revere’s ride. This was the Old North Church in Boston, of course. Its history is so storied that children across the country learned about it in school. A similar feeling comes from reading The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow by Janie Couch Allen and Elinor Griffith. Subtitled Legends and Lore: The Oldest Church in New York, it is clearly a celebratory work, printed in full color and with pictures on every page. This church’s claim to fame isn’t as much historical as it’s the result of the imagination of Washington Irving. It features in his short story “The Legend of Sleep Hollow.”
Built in 1685, it was already an old building by the time Irving had settled in North Tarrytown. Being early enough, Irving had immense influence on the culture of a young country. Although born in New York City, and although he lived for many years overseas, he came to represent the voice of the emerging American literary tradition. America has been home to many writers since then, some successful, many not. But this book is about the church, not Irving. Irving does play a big part in its story, although he was never a member. I kept thinking as I read how influential a single story can become. And even a small Dutch Reformed Church can benefit from it. This book gives a high-level overview of the history of the area and some of its colorful characters. It turns a few times to the Headless Horseman, but it also explains the trials and triumphs of a small church.
Although most towns can’t claim such a storied structure, American churches have had an outsized influence on who we are as a people. I’ve sat through meetings lamenting the lack of funds for the operating budget as money grows tighter even as the worldview of ancient Palestine effaces. As an historian of religion I tend to look back. I don’t believe our future will be entirely electronic or virtual. If it is, I think I’d rather find myself on a chill, uncomfortable pew in the Old Dutch Church lit by candles on a Christmas Eve, shivering but still alive. No matter what a person believes—and with the varieties of churches we can’t all be right—we know that it’s part of what makes us human.