Originally created as a Life Saving Service Station, St. Andrew’s Church was saved in 1879 by five families. The founders, Dr. T. Gaillard Thomas, William S. Hoyt, C. Wyllys Betts, Frederic H. Betts, and Dr. Albert H. Buck, changed the name, by resolution, to Saint Andrew’s Dune Church in 1884. To this day, the church interior includes passages of scripture that remind parishioners of the building’s original purpose. For 141 years, the church has been open for sixteen weeks during the summer season.
The church was incorporated under the laws of the state of New York in 1854 as a free church. The Shields on the wall have been given in memory of deceased Trustees, whereas the Memorial Tablets are devoted to family members and distinguished former parishioners. The American flag at the altar has only 45 stars because it was a service flag from returning soldiers of World War I.
The stained-glass windows range from breathtaking opalescent-glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany and John La Farge to Pre-Raphaelite-inspired panels by the British firm Heaton, Butler & Bayne to lushly floral windows by Bostonian Wilbur Herbert Burnham, and Stephen Hannock’s opalescent-glass landscape window, installed in 2020
In September of 1938, a hurricane slammed into the East Coast. It passed directly over the church and the church was almost completely wiped out. Many pews and the organ were washed into Lake Agawam across the street and several stained-glass windows were lost, including two of the eleven original signed Tiffany windows.
In 1995, the church was moved slightly to the north and west and placed on a new foundation.
The land surrounding the Dune Church represents some of the last surviving dunescape in the Village of Southampton. The grounds of the church are planted under the direction of the Southampton Garden Club.
Source:
“History.” St. Andrew’s Dune Church, www.standrewsdunechurch.com/history. Accessed 23 May 2025.
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