A Trip to an Historic Site

St. Paul’s Church Pelham, NY— All fifth graders go on this trip to St. Paul’s Church and it is only 10-15 minutes away.

Hutchinson School went to St. Paul’s October 28, 2016. We all learned something new or maybe a lot of new things. St. Paul’s was built in 1765 after the old wooden church was falling down. The first St. Paul’s Church was a small wooden church. The first church was built in the 1660s. The new church was expensive for back then so each year they raised enough money to work on the church they would add on to the church and the years they didn’t raise enough money they would leave the church alone.

The church had many uses and one of them was a court house. It was a court house sometimes but not often. During church services, if people fell asleep someone would come around with a feather and tickle them behind the ears or under their noses. If the feather didn’t wake them up then they would have to poke them with a stick that had a rubber ball on the end of it. If that didn’t wake them up then the person was probably dead. In order to get a seat in a pew the towns folks would have to pay money and the more money they paid the closer to the front they would get to sit.

5^th grade teacher Mrs. Hertwig said, “We were supposed to learn about a local Revolutionary War site and the battles that were fought there, and how St. Paul’s church played a part.”

5^th grader Dalajah Griffith said, “I learned that there wasn’t really any good medicine and that in church you were not allowed to fall asleep and in church people had their own private pew, which seemed like a big cubby you could sit in.”

5^th grader Jewel Dalley said, “I think someone should go to St. Paul’s because it’s fun learning about the Revolutionary War and how people lived back then and my favorite part was the playing old fashion catch game.

During the Revolutionary War no one came to church so it was a big building used for nothing. So they put the church to another use. The church became a hospital for the soldiers that were wounded in the war. At that time the church was still in the process of being built. The church had no windows so they couldn’t keep the soldiers warm. So to keep heat in they tore down the old church and covered up the windows. Everyone was afraid of getting sick because they would most likely die. So if someone’s arm was infected, they would chop off the arm. Those who died would get buried out in the back.

If you go to St. Paul’s, you might learn something. Or, if you can’t visit, try looking for the plaques around Pelham and you will learn a little of what I learned. For starters, there is a plaque at Glover field and one at the Pelham High school.