Saturday, July 8, 4 p.m.—EAST POULTNEY—St. John’s Episcopal Church will celebrate Independence Day with a prayer service on Saturday, July 8 at 4 p.m. The service will take place at St. John’s Episcopal Church on Route 140 in East Poultney. The service will feature Dr. James Cassarino, director of the vocal, instrumental and Welsh heritage programs at Green Mountain College, on the original mechanical organ. Light refreshments and fellowship are offered following the service.
St. John’s Episcopal Church, which held its first service on May 27, 1832, sits on the historic village green in East Poultney. St. John’s held regular Sunday services until 1931. In 2013, a group of concerned citizens took on the task of caring for this virtually untouched structure. The church features the original box-style pews, stenciled walls, oil lamps and an intact mechanical organ, one of four remaining organs manufactured by the Nutting Organ Company of Vermont. The church has no plumbing, no furnace, and no electricity.
