HISTORY OF THE WEEKAPAUG CHAPEL

  In the early years of the twentieth century, Weekapaug summer residents had a desire for religious expression that led to the Sunday morning services held alternately between the Weekapaug Inn and the Stillman House. For many years, preachers of different faiths were invited by Mrs. Mary Hapgood. This set the precedent of non-denominational worship which continues to this day.

After the Stillman House was razed, the “old” Weekapaug Inn continued to hold the Sunday Worship services. In August of 1906 a committee was selected to find land upon which a chapel could be “founded on a rock.” Although plans and estimates for a chapel building were submitted as early as 1907, it was not until 1915 that the Trustees purchased the present lot from Miss Annie Chapman for $2000, and the plans were approved in 1916. The cost estimate was $4000. A loan was secured from the Washington Trust Co. and the building was completed and dedicated in 1917. The minutes of the Annual Meeting of 1921 record the following: “The services have been most satisfactory and the attendance large. One pleasant and encouraging thing about the service was the number of children present.” How good it is to note that the children of Weekapaug have been a vital part of its services from the very beginning. 

In the 1920’s Rev. Dr. Remsen Ogilby, President of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, arrived in Weekapaug with his family. He became a trustee and took over the duty of inviting the weekly ministers. In 1926, he was elected President of the Society and in due time elected Commodore of the Weekapaug Yacht Club. “It was a question from which he gleaned the greater joy,” but it is certain his sermons exercised a powerful influence on all who remember him. He had a gift for making the Bible come alive for young and old. One never knew what dramatic revelation might emerge on Sunday morning. Few will forget his production of Jonah and the Whale or how he would organize the children as animals to enter Noah’s Ark. In 1938, he led the congregation from the Chapel to the Yacht Club where he gave the Blessing of the Fleet. He introduced to the Chapel our beloved hymn, “Savior of the World,” which we all sing with great joy as we open our Chapel for the summer and again with sadness in our hearts at the closing Labor Day Hymn Sing, signaling that the days of summer are behind us.

In the summer of 1943, Weekapaug suffered an irreparable blow with his tragic death from a heart attack while swimming in front of his house on the Dunes. Fred Buffum, Jr., summed up his wonderful life as follows: “Through Dr. Ogilby’s able, magnetic and forceful personality and his profound understanding and interest in all our problems, whether public or private, our community continued to thrive and grow closer together.” The bronze tablet inside the Chapel attests to the memory of Dr. Ogilby and reads as follows:

To the glory of God