Church of the Presidents, Gothic Episcopal chapel in Elberon, United States
The Church of the Presidents is a wooden chapel built in the Carpenter Gothic style in Elberon, a neighborhood of Long Branch on the New Jersey shore, United States. The building features pointed arches, steep gables, and worked wooden details on the outside, while the inside now serves as a museum space.
The chapel was built in 1879 at a time when Elberon was a fashionable summer retreat for wealthy families and sitting presidents escaping Washington. Over the years, the building shifted from active worship to its current role as a local history museum.
The name of this chapel comes from the seven American presidents who attended Sunday services here during summer stays on the New Jersey shore. Inside, the exhibition spaces display objects and stories from that era that visitors can still explore today.
The chapel sits in a residential area close to the beach and is easiest to reach by car. A visit during daylight hours is a good idea, as natural light makes the wooden details on the exterior and the displays inside much easier to see.
When President James Garfield was dying in 1881 after being shot, railway workers laid a temporary rail line overnight to bring his train directly to a cottage near this chapel, away from the heat of Washington. He died just weeks after arriving in Elberon, and the chapel stood close by during those final days.
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