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Amagansett Presbyterian
Church
A Brief History
Written by
Rev. Robert Stuart
Pastor Emeritus
Revrobstuart@aol.com
Our congregation was organized in 1860 with 82 members who came from the
Presbyterian Church in East Hampton. It was an amicable separation, prompted by
the desire of those men and women who lived in Amagansett to have their own
place of worship. In an initial statement of separation it was noted that the
Amagansett Presbyterians were “believers or patrons of the Presbyterian doctrine
and creed.” That description has been true in the history of the congregation
from that time to the present. While pastoral leadership can be considered in
some instances to be more conservative, or again more progressive, it was always
Presbyterian, within the bounds of Presbyterian governance.
 It is notable that the congregation in its history was little swayed by
passions of the day outside the immediate community. Thus in the rise of
fundamentalism in the 1920s, the Amagansett church remained on course with a
steady conservative leadership under the twenty-four year leadership of Clarence
Scoville. The church grew in number, the Sunday School thrived, various social
groups flourished. It was during this period that the present Women’s Guild was
organized, initially as a group of young mothers to help raise funds for the
church during the Depression.
In another period of American church history, in the 1960s the Amagansett
church again stayed the course with essentially a conservative sense of itself.
That observation can be modified to some extent through the pastoral leadership
of Peter Braun, who was attentive to the issue of civil rights in the national
consciousness.
Beginning in 1969 with the pastoral leadership of Paul Cunkle, and continuing
in 1982 with the seventeen year pastorate of Robert Stuart, the congregation
retained its Presbyterian character. The Sunday School continued, the Deacons
were added as a board, with the always successful annual Summer Fair (since
1916), and social programs within the church. Mr. Stuart added a distinctive
ministry of healing in his tenure, prompted by AIDS as a disease, open also to
all persons seeking health and healing.
The church has had several longer pastorates, those of Mr. Scoville and Mr.
Stuart already noted, and eleven years for Mr. Cunkle. In the earlier years,
twenty-four years also for James Finch (1879-1903). Between these longer periods
of service, which have lent stability to the congregation, there have been many
periods with short pastoral leadership. In the 1950s into the early 1960s, three
Scottish ministers served, all doing well in their time, Ernest Gordon, George
Nicholson, J. Donald Yule.
The Yule Room was added in 1960, and with the bequest in 1970 from Denniston
Bell of Amagansett, the church has had the funds to keep its property in good
condition. The Manse was purchased in 1910. Scoville Hall was built in 1925.
In the 1950s the Amagansett church was yoked with the Montauk congregation,
and in the 1970s with the Springs congregation.
The membership of the congregation historically has been from families in the
Village, which has reflected its whaling fishing heritage. That is for the most
part no longer true. In its more recent history, the membership has included men
and women from outside Amagansett, some retiring from work in New York or moving
here while continuing to work elsewhere. Church members come also from the
neighboring villages. That having been said, the Amagansett church like all
Presbyterian congregations in our area, is predominantly older in age. The
challenge is to determine what the configuration of a present and future church
might be while remaining true to itself as a congregation within the
Presbyterian Church.
The strength of the church throughout its life has come from running a center
course, conservative in nature without being extreme, at the same time open to
newer forms of ministry as these have proved helpful, in service to its members
and to the community in the name of Christ.
Did You Know
- In 1664 Jacobus Schellinger moved from New Amsterdam to East Hampton after
the English took over the Dutch colony and renamed it New York. Three of his
children - Abraham, Jacob and Catherine - wanted land to farm, so in 1680 they
moved three miles east and founded Amagansett ("place of good water" in Indian
language).
- In March of 2005, we donated our old Pew Cushions to the East Hampton
Methodist Church.
- Do you know which political leader produced the absolute biggest
bestseller of all time? It was England's King James I. James didn't write a
tell-all memoir. He commissioned a new translation of the Bible. To this day,
the King James Bible is the most widely sold English Bible in North America.
That's almost 400 years of bestseller status.
- There are more than five million Presbyterians in Korea - twice as many as
in the PC(USA) - and Korea has the largest Presbyterian congregation in the
world, with 50,000 members.
- There are six Presbyterian Church's in Iraq. Two are in Baghdad, and they
draw about 60 attendees each Sunday.
- That the US Army has about 145 Presbyterian Pastors
- About 8,000 people gathered for the national meeting of the Presbyterian
Church USA's national meeting, the 216th general Assembly (2004).
PROFILE OF THE COMMUNITY: AMAGANSETT PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Amagansett is the Indian name for “place of good water.” We are a hamlet of
the Town of East Hampton. East Hampton has a long history of being a summer
tourist attraction, and the population can easily triple between May and
September. People come from all over the world for famous beaches, golf,
fishing, nightlife, and celebrity watching. In the winter the town quiets down
to the small villages where everyone seems to know everyone else. On a summer
weekend the town bubbles with excitement from visitors and scores of activities.
East Hampton encompasses a land area of about 70 miles (and includes about 70
miles of beaches). It is composed of several hamlets: Amagansett (settled in
1680), Springs, East Hampton Village, Montauk and Sag Harbor. In the 1960’s
Amagansett was named “the jewel of the crown of the Hamptons.” Just two blocks
from our Church, and the Manse, are the sparking beaches of the Altantic Ocean.
Not far from that very beach is where, in June 1942, a German Submarine landed a
party of men who eventually took the Amagansett train to New York City. Just a
short walk from the Manse is the Public school, playgrounds, farmers markets,
the public Library, and more.
Amagansett Presbyterian Church is a cog in a great Presbyterian tradition on
the East End of Long Island. Each of the hamlets listed above has at least one
Presbyterian Church, and they network together in the “East End Presbyterian
Parish.” The year-round (local) population has been described as having more
New-England type attitudes and convictions, rather than “New York” style
convictions. This makes them conservative, thrifty, and often resistant to
change. This is beginning to diversify, as more second homeowners move to
Amagansett to live year round—this augments the inclusiveness seen in most
activities of the church. The community often expects recreational programs from
its churches, in addition to community and social service work by the churches.
Overall, the Amagansett community holds much of the character of a small,
rural fishing town, but has many features of a growing suburb as well. As you
may imagine, it is an exciting time to be a member of the Amagansett community.
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