First Universalist Church of Southold to Rise (Again)

When a fire destroyed the First Universalist Church of Southold on a Saturday night in March 2015, it left a thriving congregation without a home and a historic hamlet without one of its most iconic landmarks. But after eight years of diligence, the congregation and members of the community gathered July 22 to break ground on a new structure on the property, with construction scheduled to begin this week.

The classic New England-style white-steepled church, which had about 65 to 70 active members when disaster struck, had stood on Main Road at the hamlet’s western end for nearly two centuries.

“The loss of the 1837 structure was a loss for the church members but also for the whole community,” says Deanna Witte-Walker, executive director of the Southold Historical Museum. “The attractive UU church was a significant landmark in town. It was one of the few early churches in the hamlet, and its simple yet impressive architecture was appealing to many.”

The day after the church burned, congregation members, including Mark Sisson, convened at the Custer Institute & Observatory in Southold to “try to come to grips with what happened,” says Sisson, who today is president of the church’s Board of Trustees. “The fire department came and brought the church bell, which had been salvaged from the wreckage.”

With an eye toward rebuilding, Dan Durett, then president of the congregation, appointed 11 congregation members to a building team, including Sisson.

“We got money from the insurance company, and we contracted with an architect to figure out how to fulfill the congregation’s hopes and dreams,” says Sisson, who chaired the building team.

The team worked with architect Ray Calamari to “come up with what we needed to fulfill our needs and dreams within our budget,” Sisson says. “But we were not able to come up with a building that fulfilled all our hopes within our budget.”

The original church was two separate buildings, including a sanctuary section and an office section, which were connected by an atrium. It was not feasible to rebuild a replica, so the scope was reduced multiple times to the current iteration.

According to Sisson, one of the principles that the Unitarian Universalist church lives by is that everybody gets a voice. While a noble philosophy, it can make arriving at a consensus on a building plan especially challenging and time-consuming.

“Everybody had comments, and it was a difficult and arduous task to satisfy everyone’s opinions,” Sisson says. “We didn’t have someone saying, ‘That’s too bad.’ We wanted to make sure everyone’s opinions were heard and then arrive at some compromise.”

In addition, the Southold Planning Department, the Historic Preservation Commission and the Architectural Review Board each had comments, as well.

“What we arrived at is exactly what we need, if we were a little disappointed not to get what we dreamed and hoped for,” Sisson says. “For instance, we wanted a sanctuary to seat 60 people and a separate meeting room in a separate building. The sanctuary will still seat 60, but we will have movable chairs, so it can be reconfigured to create open space, or tables could be brought in to hold different types of events. We could also position the chairs to have service in the round or concerts in the round.” The church will have a small area for office and meeting space and a kitchen, as well as ADA-accessible bathrooms, along with a fire sprinkler system, which the old church lacked.

Like the former building, the new building will have a classic New England-style look. Large Gothic-style windows with clear rather than stained glass were one of the most recognizable features of the old church.

“We incorporated smaller versions of this style of window into the design,” Sisson says. “The new building is an echo of the old design.”

During the long planning process, COVID-19 brought new delays and challenges, including supply chain woes. Even with the reduced project scope, the higher costs of building has left the congregation with a budget shortfall.

“We expect the cost to rebuild will run between $3 million and $3.2 million, and we are about $400,000 short,” Sisson says. “As we begin the building phase, which will take about 18 months, we are also beginning a capital campaign. It was difficult to ask the community for money before, when we didn’t have a final plan or a building.”

The congregation contracted with North Fork Woodworks on the new building. “Company President Scott Edgett knows our situation, and he has assured us he will bring it in as cost-effectively as possible and do the best for us,” Sisson says.

Without a building of its own, the congregation has met at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greenport and still has about 40 active members. The building team has been reduced from 11 to five members.

“Some members moved out of the area or passed away,” Sisson says. “In eight years, we’ve all gotten older. The most melancholy part of all this is that some people will not be here to see the new church realized.”

But Sisson is proud of the congregation’s resilience. “A lot of groups would have thrown their hands up and given up by now,” he says. “But we are going forward.”

Learn more about the First Universalist Church of Southold at firstuniversalistsouthold.org.