History of st. peter's

COLONIAL ERA

When the first English settlers arrived in lower Delaware, they brought with them their Christian religion. A few were Quakers, some Presbyterians, but mostly Churchmen, members of the Church of England. By 1681, the Churchmen of what is today Lewes had knit together a congregation and received a grant of four acres in the center of town, which they fenced for a burial ground, and eventually a church building site. In 1689, a portion of this land was used to build a Court House on the west side of the churchyard. Before the arrival of the first clergy-man, religious services were sometimes led by laymen in the Court House.

 The early worshipers petitioned the Bishop of London to send clergy to serve them and the other congregations in Sussex County. The first missionary to arrive was the Reverend William Black in July of 1708. In June of 1709, French privateers plundered the town, and Black fled to Virginia, never to return to Lewes. The lack of a missionary did not deter the Churchmen of Sussex County, and they proceeded to build three churches: Saint Matthew's Church Cedar Creek (now gone); Saint George's Chapel in Indian River Hundred; and Saint Peter's Church, Lewes.

 The Sussex Mission owes its permanence to the Reverend William Becket, A.M., who came to Lewes in September 1721 and remained until his death in 1743. He is buried in St. Peter’s churchyard. Under his leadership, not only St. Peter’s, but three other churches flourished in Sussex county. Becket served all three churches and added a fourth, Saint John the Baptist "in about the center of the county in the forest of Sussex." This church survives today in Milton. Under Becket's leadership the Church of England became firmly established in Sussex County. It is interesting to note that although he allowed the Rev. George Whitefield to preach at St. Peter's Church in 1739, Becket later wrote several damning letters to the Venerable Society (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) in London concerning Whitefield and the emerging Methodist movement.

 It is not known exactly when the first St. Peter’s Church was built, although it was sufficiently finished to hold services when Becket arrived in 1721. The first Saint Peter's church was built forward of the present building in the north-east corner of the churchyard. It was built on an east to west axis with the sanctuary at the east end, a custom at the time. This accounts for the odd arrangement of the grave stones with the headstones at the east end of the graves in parts of the cemetery. In a letter of October 1728 to the Bishop of London, Becket describes St. Peter’s Church as follows: [it is] 40 feet in length 24 broad, the wall between the plate and the sill is 15 feet. The frame...Wood. the Roof...covered with Cypress Shingles and the wall with Boards of the same wood,..the walls wainscoted with Cypress plank as high as the tops of the pews. The Pulpit, reading desk, Communion Table and Rail are handsomely built of Black Walnut - the pews...of pine plank...the number of people frequenting this church I reckon...about 150.