The Windows of Shelter Island’s Union Chapel in the Grove: A shining gift year-round

Sometimes they come for the windows.

It’s no secret that Union Chapel in the Grove has beautiful and unusual stained glass windows. They are lit up year-round, and especially in the winter, they offer a beacon of hope, of spirituality, in a prosaic world.

Often after a service, people will come to study the windows; brides and grooms and their parents while rehearsing for their wedding, tourists, locals, Heights residents — everyone is drawn to their beauty. 

Especially eye-catching are the Marine Mosaic windows created by Walter Cole Brigham and installed in 1903. They’re actually not stained glass at all, but chunks of broken glass, shells and stones, all collected on our Island beaches. After sketching his design on paper, the artist placed it under a heavy plate glass on which the pieces of mosaic were then painstakingly assembled and cemented together with a special lead compound. 

They are inscribed to members of the Schroeder family. 

The gorgeous Richard Salter Storrs Memorial Window is an arched leaded Ecclesiastic stained glass window depicting Jesus holding an infant. It was created by Heinigke & Bowen. After 1890, Otto Heinigke, a student of John LaFarge, formed a partnership with Owen Bowen, an associate of Charles Tiffany and LaFarge. They quickly established themselves as important designers and creators of stained glass windows at the turn of the 20th century; their commissions include the Library of Congress.

The smaller arched windows above the altar, the Thompson Memorial Window and the Jones Memorial Window, are traditional stained glass, with pretty white flowers, vines and leaves. Through they are unsigned, they’re believed to be the work of Harry Torres in 1985.

All of the windows glow with colored light, even in the depths of winter, an idea that Dave Larsen put into practice when he was chairman of the Chapel. He and his wife, Nancy, lived across the street from the Chapel in a house charmingly and fittingly called “Churchmouse.” 

Their daughter, Liss, recalled, “It was my dad who wanted to leave the lights on in the evenings and that probably led to them being lit year-round. He thought it was a shame that the beautiful windows existed, but nobody could see them.”

Another former chairman, Jay Sterling, said of Dave, “From his vantage point across the street, he lovingly shepherded the Chapel building and was often seen on the stepladder replacing the burned-out light bulbs.”

Whether you come to Union Chapel to hear our roster of non-denominational speakers and preachers, to listen to the local musicians that change weekly and play all different types of music, for the hymns, for the fellowship at receptions after the service in the Grove, catered by Stars Café, for an hour of quiet spirituality in a busy summer season, or if you come just to look at the windows, everyone is welcome.

Services begin on Sunday, June 15 at 10:30 a.m. with the Homecoming/Heights Memorial Service and continue through Sunday, August 31, Poetry Sunday.

Visit our website at UnionChapelintheGrove.org for a list of our summer speakers. And while you’re there, don’t forget to sign up to receive emails of the specifics of each summer service. We look forward to seeing you this summer.