Welcome to a photographic tour of Trinity Church in Southport Ct 

Welcome to Trinity Church! We have a beautiful recently restored Carpenter Gothic church with a very long history in the seaside village of Southport Ct. Our spire can be seen for miles, and we are happy that it has led you to us. Please come in and take our tour.

Trinity Church has been a center of worship and Christian community since 1724. The present building is the seventh edifice constructed by Trinity Parish throughout its presence in Fairfield and Southport. Today, Trinity serves a congregation of 400 families and continues to grow in size and spirit.

As you walk up the path to the front doors, you will pass several trees planted in memory of parishioners. On the left is our Memorial Garden, installed in 1990 for the interment of ashes and for meditation and celebrations. You can find more about the Garden and the trees on the About Us menu. And farther on to the left, the entrance to the Parish Hall, originally our Chapel.

In 1872 the Rev. Edward Livingston Wells received the consent of the Parish to build a building nearby which would be devoted to a chapel and a church community school. He opened the school with three teachers and thirty pupils. The bell cote, Gothic windows with quatrefoil stained glass windows, and board and batten siding are original and this building is now our Parish Hall. The interior was also restored in 2000-2002. At the left you can see the building as it appeared in 1891, and below as it is today. 

Standing in the narthex you can see almost the same view that hundreds of people have seen over the past 120 years. Much of what you see was accomplished during the Rectorship of the Rev. Edmund Guilbert, Trinity’s 14^th Rector from 1891-1902. Our church was in serious need of repair. Rev. Guilbert hired J & R Lamb, a noted church decorating firm, to reappoint the sanctuary and added the polygonic addition at the rear of the chancel. Rev. Guilbert also persuaded families to donate memorial worship accessories.

At the chancel steps, look to the right and you will see the hand-carved wood Eagle lectern from which our Lessons and Intercessions are read. It was donated in the 1890’s by Henry Sturges in memory of his wife. Behind the Eagle is the organ console, which you can learn more about on the page about Trinity’s Organs.

To the left is the beautiful marble angel that served as our Baptismal font many years ago. It was a gift of the Rockwell family and was carved in Dresden, Germany and modeled after an original by the famous Swedish sculptor, Thorwaldsden.

Walk up into the chancel. This part of Trinity has been modified many times over the years. The Victorian polygon extension is still there, but much of the chancel was radically changed in 2000-2002 during our extensive restoration under the leadership of the Property Committee and the Rev. Alastair Votaw. We learned that it needed new underpinnings and as we anticipated producing major concerts and religious musical events with large casts and sets, all of the parts of the chancel were made movable or removable; the entire foundation and structure of the undercroft was rebuilt to sustain the weight of the sanctuary furnishings. Every part of the nave, sanctuary and chancel and the furnishings were repaired, restored, repainted, and refinished during that restoration.

The painting of Christus Consolator is a copy of an 1837 original by the Dutch master artist Ari Scheffer, owned by the Historisch Museum in Amsterdam and now on loan to the Van Gogh Museum. Originally part of a triptych, the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City had the three paintings copied, but with less detail and elaboration. In 1902 Rev. Guilbert found the painting of Christus and brought it to Southport: the whereabouts of the other two paintings is unknown. He installed it at the back of the addition in an elaborate Gothic arch baldachino which has been redesigned many times.

In 1946, after World War II, the Rev. John H. Esquirol led another much-needed restoration of the Sanctuary. The chancel was reconfigured once again and the baldachino removed. A discussion ensued about removing the painting of Christus Consolator and a parishioner and noted architect, Roswell Barratt, stepped forward and offered to design a reredos which would balance the painting and stained glass windows. The elaborate woodwork and gilding have since been removed during the 2000-2002 restoration, when the painting was professionally cleaned and hung back in place in a simpler setting.

The Rev. Esquirol’s chancel reconfiguration included new stained glass windows. Two Southport families wanted to honor family members with memorials. The Austin Hoy family wanted to honor the memory of their son, First Lt Dion Austin Hoy, who died during the War in 1944, and the Peabody family, who wished to have a memorial for their father, Stephen Peabody, who died in 1945. You can see the Hoy window on the right as you face the altar and the Peabody window on the left.

The glazier was “Joep” Nicolas, from a distinguished and artistic  Dutch family. He took the symbol requirements requested by Rev. Esquirol and together they chose the theme of “the Descent of the Holy Spirit.” The method he used of pulling lead lines through the figures was innovative and abstract and he used the lead in ways that had not been used before. Please look at the windows carefully; they are truly remarkable.

To the left of the chancel is the Sacristy, where the linens and Communion vessels are kept. It, too, was remodeled and extended in 2002 with a gift from the late Ruth Galpin, a long-time Altar Guild member, and is now a sunny, comfortable room for the Altar Guild to work in, with a view of the marsh and glimpses of the harbor beyond.

Turn left and go through the double doors to the ambulatory, which leads you from the sanctuary, past the Chapel and the bridge to the office corridor and the stairs to the Choir Loft, and through the door at the far end to the Parish Hall. Looking out the windows you can see the Memorial Garden, and on the right, the chapel where Wednesday services and daily services of Morning Prayer are held. 

In 1953 the ambulatory was built to connect the church to the chapel. The chapel then became the Parish Hall when the new chapel was designed by Roswell Barratt. The ambulatory was given in memory of Eliza Hunter Berg Kueffner by her parents, Elizabeth and Hunter Berg. 

A bridge connects the ambulatory to the offices and the choir loft. If you look down from the bridge, you can see the Nursery School courtyard and playground.

If you go straight ahead, however, you will come to the Parish Hall where so many of our activities are held: it is the center of our parish social, educational and community life.

Beyond is a restaurant-size and equipped kitchen that is in use most of the time by various groups who cook for homeless shelters, Sunday Breakfasts, parish dinners, and receptions among other events.

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Below the ambulatory and parish hall are the church school classrooms.

Leaving the Parish Hall, climb the stairs to the hall outside the newly-refurbished Library. Outside the Library, on the right are stairs to the Choir Loft and also the door to the offices. The Library has been named in honor of our late long-time parishioner, Violet Porter. Many Trinity committees and ministries meet here and it is also used for families before weddings and memorial services or funerals, as well as for small social gatherings.

As you go through the Library, on the right you can see the door leading to the office corridor, the heart of Trinity where the staff and volunteers keep the mechanisms of our life humming and healthy. Below the office corridor are the Trinity Parish Nursery School classrooms. This wing was built in 1964.

The door at the far end of the hall will lead you back to the bridge to the ambulatory, down to the Nursery School, or up the stairs to the choir loft.

Go through the double doors at the end of the hall and then up the stairs on your left, where you will find our Music Department; the choir loft is still under renovation, but is ready to welcome our six choirs and any who want to join them! 

We hope you have enjoyed the tour. Please come and visit to see Trinity in reality. We welcome you to worship with us.

Jean Whitney, Editor         Ed Michaels, Photography           David Sturges, Historian