Welcome to St. Andrew’s!

Our doors are always open to welcome visitors to our church and to the island of Martha’s Vineyard.

At the right of the front door of the church you will see the cornerstone which was laid on September 7, 1899.  For thirteen years, shipments of bricks arrived by barge in Edgartown harbor and finally the church was built.  In 1910 the building was consecrated by William Lawrence, Bishop of Massachusetts.  The Parish of Martha’s Vineyard, comprising the towns of Tisbury (Vineyard Haven), Chilmark, Oak Bluffs, and Edgartown was formed in 1939.  The rector lived in Vineyard Haven and a succession of curates living in Edgartown shared the parish work.

As you enter the church, on your immediate right, you will notice a stained  glass window of St. Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary and St. Mary, mother of Jesus.  Note the roses scattered throughout this window.  It was designed by Connick Studios of Boston and dedicated in 1930. 

On your left, is a children’s alcove, created as a small and happy religious oasis for the very young. The needlepoint here and throughout St. Andrew’s was designed by Betty Hitesman who has done ecclesiastical needlepoint throughout the world.

Our tracker organ was designed and built by W.B. Williams in the late 1890s in New York and moved to St. Andrew’s in 1913. 

The pulpit is the bow of a Swampscott dory given to St. Andrew’s by the Guernsey family and George Eyes, Jr. and dedicated in 1967 by the Very Rev. Francis B. Sayre, Dean of the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.  The boat as a place for preaching is a fitting symbol representing the message which takes us on through the deep waters of life.

The stained glass window on the right in the chancel was designed and made by Whipple Mowbray of London.  It depicts Jesus with his disciples at the calming of the storm.  Other windows are dedicated to those who labor at sea.

The beautiful kneelers at the altar rail were worked by both men and women of the parish and elsewhere.  More such work can be seen at Trinity Chapel in Oak Bluffs. 

St. Andrew’s is well known for its Tiffany windows.  The window to the left of the altar depicts Christ blessing a child.  Although Louis C. Tiffany was in retirement, he oversaw the making of this piece.  The window to the right is of Christ and St. Andrew and is signed at the lower right hand corner.  Both windows were dedicated on Easter, 1927.

In the 1940s, the church expanded with the building of the Parish Hall behind the church.  In 1964 the Martha’s Vineyard chapter of the NAACP was formed in the Parish Hall partly in response to the assassination of President John Kennedy.  A commemorative plaque will be found at the door of the Parish Hall.

In 2001 a new Parish House at 51 Winter Street was built to provide meeting space for church groups, the treasurer and bookkeeper’s office, and the parish library.  Upstairs is an apartment to accommodate visiting speakers and clergy.

St. Andrew’s is an Episcopal Church, part of the world-wide Anglican Communion, and a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.

We are pleased to welcome you to our church building.  If you do not have a church home, we invite you to consider St. Andrew’s.  We hope you will find St. Andrew’s to be a place where you are able to grow in faith.  We have available to us many ways to strengthen our faith as individual Christians, support our parish family, and reach out to our neighbors both near and far. 

Services each Sunday morning are at 8:00 and 10:00 with coffee hour following each.  On Wednesdays, a mid-week Eucharist is celebrated at noon.  Other services are held each Monday, Thursday, and Friday at 7:30 a.m. and Tuesday and Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

Summer Sunday Services (starting July 4th) are at 8:00, 9:15 and 10:30 with coffee hour following each.

Please join us!