Though originally built to serve as a private chapel, the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is now the only Episcopal church in Chappaqua. It is a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is constructed of fieldstone from the farm that 19th-century newspaper editor Horace Greeley made his summer home and where he conducted agricultural experiments. Next to the church, and part of its property, is the Greeley Grove of evergreen trees, originally planted by Greeley as a windbreak for his vegetable garden and greenhouse. The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin and Greeley Grove were listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places in 1978. They are also included in The Greeley Heritage Landmarks in Chappaqua (Thematic Group), which were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1979.

Designed by Manhattan-based architect Morgan O’Brien, the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is an example of Gothic Revival architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which was often inspired by rural English models. It follows the traditional cruciform pattern, and its design is based upon that of the 1484 Church of Saint Mary at Monken Hadley, north of London.

The church was constructed between 1904 and 1906 by Horace Greeley’s daughter, Gabrielle Greeley Clendenin, and her husband, the Reverend Dr. Frank M. Clendenin, as a memorial to their daughter Muriel, who had died in 1903 at the age of five. The four-acre site was provided by Gabrielle from the Greeley farm, and building was financed by Dr. Clendenin. At the time of its dedication, the English Church of St Mary donated one of its original Tudor windows as a symbol of spiritual kinship and international friendship. It is now installed in the northern transept.

At the same time, a walled family burial plot was installed behind the church. It now contains the graves of Gabrielle and Frank M Clendenin and four of their children.

The interior sanctuary of the church had to be extensively remodeled after a fire in 1919. In 1927, a carillon of bells was installed on the roof of the tower, and in 1955, a one-story baptistry was added on the northern side of the nave. Otherwise, the church remains much as it was when it was originally built. Greeley Grove is next to the church and is part of its property. It contains the majestic relics of the pines and hemlocks that Horace Greeley planted in the 1850s as a windbreak for his nearby garden and greenhouse. It was the location of a notable picnic that Greeley hosted in the summer of his 1872 presidential campaign. Since 1938, it has served as the site of the church’s annual Strawberry Festival. The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin and Greeley Grove are included in The Greeley Heritage Landmarks in Chappaqua (Thematic Group), which were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1979.

1. "Church of Saint Mary the Virgin and Greeley Grove (Horace Greeley Thematic District), 79003213.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. 1979. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315489
2. Comfort, Randall. “Chappaqua's Church of Saint Mary the Virgin.” The Westchester Historian vol. 13 (n.d.): 66-67.
3. Williams, Gray. Horace Greeley and the Greeley Family in Chappaqua. Chappaqua, NY: New Castle Historical Society, 2016.
4. Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Elmsford, NY: Westchester County Historical Society, 2003.