50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint Luke in the Fields

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Saint Luke in the Fields, in Greenwich Village, 487 Hudson Street New York City, was founded in 1820 on farmland donated by Trinity Church, to accommodate the expansion of northward into Greenwich Village. The original church building was reminiscent of an English village church, with a square tower at one end, but made of brick and built in the Federal style.

The church was constructed in 1821-22 and has been attributed to both John Heath, the building contractor, and James N. Wells. The church complex cost $7,500 according to church records

The complex was laid out by Clement Clarke Moore, who would serve as the church’s first pastor. Clement Clarke Moore is most known for writing, Twas the Night Before Christmas. wrote “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Greenwich Village at the time was a sanctuary for people fleeing the yellow fever endemic disease of the city proper, and the name of the new parish  was Hughtchosen to evoke the pastoral quality of the area. “St. Luke’s” was chosen in honor of the patron saint of physicians, an evocation of the disease that catalyzed the church’s development.

On July 10, 1863, just five days before his 84th birthday, Clement Clarke Moore died in his summer home in Newport. His body was returned to New York during a time of tremendous upheaval. In March a strict federal draft law was enacted whereby every male citizen between 20 and 35 was subject to military duty for the Civil War. A lottery was established to select the draftees; but those who could afford the $300 waiver fee could avoid conscription. On the day after Moore’s death the first lottery was held. Two days later, when the working classes realized the inequity of the system, riots broke out. For five days no one was safe on the streets of New York as mobs murdered civilians and torched homes and businesses. Moore’s casket arrived in the city and was secretly moved through the streets to the churchyard behind St. Luke in the Field where it was quietly buried.

On October 26, 1865, just a few months after the end of the Civil War, Francis J. Lyon and Mary Imogene Greene were married in the church by Reverend J. H. Tuttle. The newlyweds boarded the steamer St. John for their honeymoon excursion. Three days later, at 7:00AM, the vessel’s boiler exploded. Both Francis and Mary were scalded to death. On Tuesday, October 31 just five days after their wedding, their coffins were carried into the church. The New York Times reported “the coverings being removed, the bodies were seen in their bridal attire.” The church was crowded with mourners. Rev. Tuttle the same clergyman who had officiated at the marriage ceremony officiated their final rights.

Within a few years of the church’s erection, houses were constructed along the sides of the church to obscure views of its burial ground and garden. Of the seven houses which once flanked the church on each side, a total of six remain.  In the late 1880s, when the surrounding neighborhood become predominantly poor and largely composed of immigrants the congregation moved north to West 141st Street, and St. Luke’s became a chapel of Trinity Church, only regaining its independence in 1976.

The church building was damaged by fire twice, in 1886 and on March 6, 1981. After the latter fire, which gutted the building, it was reconstructed by Hugh Hardy of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, who restored much of its original Federal style touches. The reconstruction was completed in 1985. Starting in the 1980s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic deeply affected the Village community, hitting the congregation hard. The AIDS Project of St. Luke’s was founded in 1987, providing Saturday dinner and weekend teas to tens of thousands of afflicted persons. One of the priests ministering to AIDS patients then was former actress Molly McGreevy. St. Luke’s is actively involved with the gay and lesbian community, participating with its own contingent at the annual Gay Pride March.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Galilee Baptist Church

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Built in 1850, this building at 447 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn New York, was modeled after an Italian villa. Its first resident was David H. Burdette, and the building was used as the Galilee Baptist Church at the time it was sketched in 1994. It was later abandoned. In 2007 it was converted into 4 rental apartments. The building is located in the Clinton Hill Historic District of Brooklyn New York.

“The Hill”, as the general area was known – with a maximum elevation of 95 feet was believed to have health benefits because many people believed that disease was more prevalent in low-lying areas. The area is named after Clinton Avenue, which in turn was named in honor of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton (1769–1828).

This building is only one of two buildings that are still standing from the early 1850s development of Clinton Hill. Most of the rest of the neighborhood was replaced with row houses after the Civil War in the 1860s and 1870s.

The renovation of 447 Clinton Avenue won a pair of prizes, the Clinton Hill Historic Society and Preservation Award and the Building Brooklyn Award. Rent for one of the apartments was $6000 per month in 2017.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: North Baptist Church

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North Baptist Church, 130 Park Avenue at Vreeland in Staten Island, New York.

The church was organized in 1841 when fifty-three members of the Old Clove Baptist Church were granted letters of dismissal to establish a new society known as the North Baptist Church in Graniteville. That same year the society called Reverend J.T. Seeley to be their first pastor. In 1842 a church was erected on Gun Factory Road in Graniteville.

In the 1870s, the congregation built a new church on Park Avenue and Vreeland Street in Port Richmond. The Gothic Revival building featured a facade with two towers, the one at the corner being taller and surmounted by a tall steeple. That tall steeple has been vastly reduced in size.

The Park Baptist congregation disbanded or merged. The building is now home to Saint Mary’s Orthodox Church, which is part of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of the East in the United States.

Stealth Wave

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People don’t react to a wave they don’t see coming. In the North Eastern United States cases are once again beginning to rise this time because of the Stealth variant of Omicron called BA.2.

With 2 years of social distancing, masking, vaccination and hand washing you might think Americans would be ready to handle this next wave. However Americans are done with COVID-19. The vaccinated are done because the vaccines have indeed proven very effective at protecting against hospitalization and death. Getting the booster shot that is now being rolled out would also protect against infection the the upcoming months but not many are rushing out to get another booster.

With so many people now doing home tests instead of going to testing centers, it will be hard to see this new wave coming. I track hospitalizations as opposed of cases and thankfully they are relatively low after the huge spike in January of 2022. More Americans died from the Omicron that from the far more deadly Delta variant. Though less virulent, Omicron is so contagious that the incredible numbers of people infected still result in deaths.

England is experiencing the highest level of infections since the start of the pandemic and it is safe to say that America will experience a similar spike in the coming weeks. We are in the eye of the hurricane.

There’s no consensus among experts on exactly when waves begin or end, or how sharp or tall one must be to count. A wave will involve a sudden rise in cases form a baseline low. We are in that low right now. We are lucky in that cases are so low as BA.2 is taking over. With exponential growth the cases seem low for some time and then suddenly rise at alarming rates. No one can say for sure how alarming the next wave will be.

The fact is however that Americans have lifted most all restrictions and are going about life as normal as the tsunami wave quickly rushed towards the shore.

Human Porcupine

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A 60 year old German man allegedly got up to 90 vaccination shots in order to collect and sell forged vaccination cards with real vaccine batch numbers to people not wanting to get vaccinated themselves.

The man from the eastern German city of Magdeburg, whose name was not released in line with German privacy rules, kept getting  shots against COVID-19 at vaccination centers in the eastern state of Saxony for months until criminal police caught him this month, the German news agency dpa reported April 3, 2022.

He was caught at a vaccination center in Eilenburg in Saxony when he showed up for a COVID-19 shot for the second day in a row. Police confiscated several blank vaccination cards from him and initiated criminal proceedings. It wasn’t immediately clear what impact the approximately 90 shots of COVID-19 vaccines, which were from different brands, had on the man’s health.

Many COVID-19 deniers refuse to get vaccinated in Germany but at the same time want to have the coveted COVID-19 passports that make access to public life and venues such as restaurants, theaters, swimming pools or workplaces much easier.

Germany has seen high infection numbers for weeks, due to the BA.2 omicron sub variant, yet many measures to rein in the pandemic ended on April Fools day. Donning masks is no longer compulsory in grocery stores and most theaters but it is still mandatory on public transportation. In most schools in Germany, students also no longer have to wear masks, which has led teachers’ associations to warn of possible conflicts in class a masking set up  caste bullying system among the students.

Long COVID

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A new study fro the United Kingdom found that Long COVID might damage brain cells. Could that explain the behavior of increasing aggressive humans all across the country and around the world?

Comparing brain volume before and after individuals were exposed to SARS-CoV-2, this study documents significant cortical gray matter loss, equivalent to nearly 10 years of aging. Individuals that experienced mild or no symptoms with Covid-19 displayed  significant changes, but cortical damage seems to occur regardless of disease severity, age, or sex.

The UK BioBank provided pre-pandemic brain scans from 785 individuals that were used as a baseline for normal size and structure relative to each participant. About three years later, in May 2021, the same population of participants returned for new brain scans. A total of, 401 individuals were infected with Covid-19 between scans and the remaining served  as controls.

Between the first and second brain scans, individuals previously infected with Covid-19 experienced a 0.7% reduction in overall cortical gray matter on average, compared to the control group. To put that into perspective, people middle aged and beyond only lose 0.2% to 0.3% of brain volume per year. Recent studies suggest that 86% of individuals exposed to the virus may experience partial or complete loss of smell. The nose is close to the brain, it is possible that  losing the sense of smell may be linked to other neurological damage.

The largest differences, in brain shrinkage, were seen in the regions that play an important role in the hippocampus memory system, so gray matter loss could signify future memory impairments. The hippocampus helps with spatial awareness, conscious recollection, and consolidation of memories. This would effect recollections of facts, events and overall episodic memories. More research is needed to determine whether these deficits may be linked to mood disorders associated with long-haul Covid-19, including depression and anxiety.

COVID BA.2 is 50% more infectious than Omicron and it is quickly becoming the dominant variant in the United States. Americas are tired of COVID and over it. The virus however is not done with us. It is still a good idea to follow simple safety measures, wash hands often, wear a mask indoors or around others, and  get vaccinated. a second booster shot is being made for those 50 years of age and older. It is a  good idea to get that shot as BA.2 sweeps across America in the coming wave in the coming weeks. The U.S. government had cut funding for COVID relief so this might be the last FREE chance to boost your immune system to protect against hospitalization and death. Natural immunity is fine if  infected, but the trade off is a loss of brain matter and possible long COVID symptoms that can linger for months, years or a lifetime. Choose wisely.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint James Parish Hall

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Saint James Parish Hall, is also known as Saint James Church, Church of England in America, Mission Church at Newtowne, Saint James Protestant Episcopal Church  or Old Saint James Church to distinguish it from the Saint James Episcopal Church two blocks away. It is located at 86-02 Broadway in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens in New York City.

The Mission Church at Newtowne was founded in 1704 as a mission of a parish based in Jamaica, Queens. The parish built its Newtown structure in 1735–1736 and became separate in 1761.

The church survived through the American Revolutionary War, since the Rector, Joshua Bloomer, was allied with the Loyalists. It was also a place of worship for British officers and men during the Revolution. The building was also used by British troops to store ammunition.

Boxed pews nearest the minister were generally reserved for the most important members of the community, while indentured servants, apprentices, slaves, and Native Americans were seated in the upper level of the tower.

The congregation used the building until a new church was built nearby in 1848, whereupon the old structure became a parish building. The graveyard at the old church remained in use until 1851, when most corpses were disinterred and relocated to the new church. The city government attempted to take the church’s former cemetery in the 1930s for the construction of a playground, under the argument that it was legally a town cemetery. In 1963, the Post Office wanted to buy Old St. James to tear it down for a new post office. The church rejected their offer.

The church was extensively repaired and expanded several times in the 18th and 19th centuries, including a major expansion in 1883. The old church building was used as a parish hall and Sunday school until 1941 when a new parish hall was built behind the newer St. James Episcopal Church. Since then, it has been used by several community groups, and was restored in 2004.

Saint James Church is designed in the English Colonial style and consists of the original main section and a rear section built in 1883. The interior features extensive carving and other decorative woodwork features. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the church as a city landmark in 2017. The commission stated that the church was historically significant as the second-oldest church still standing in New York City, behind the Old Quaker Meeting House in Flushing, as well as the oldest surviving Anglican building and Church of England mission church.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Friends Meeting House

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In 1657 a “company of traveling ministers of the Society of Friends from England, first landed at New Amsterdam,” according to the February 1872 issue of The American Historical Record.  Their arrival did not sit well with Governor “Peg Leg” Peter Stuyvesant who passed an ordinance imposing a fine of 50 pounds on any person harboring a Quaker.  In 1892 The Sun’s Guide to New York added that Stuyvesant “used to banish their co-religions from New York after having them beaten and dragged at the tails of carts.”

By 1681 Quakers were openly worshiping and in 1734 they were granted the same civil rights as other British subjects. The Militia Act of 1755 exempted the pacifist group from serving in the military.

In an ironic twist that would have infuriated the governor, in 1860 the “Hicksite” Friends began construction of a three-story brick meeting house at 15 Rutherford Place and East 15th Street,  formerly part of Stuyvesant’s farm.   The building was completed in 1864, it was erected by congregation member Charles T. Bunting, a builder, and he is presumed to have been the architect as well.  The Greek Revival style was out of date by now, but the simple lines and unadorned lintels and sills spoke to the simplicity of the lifestyle of the Society.  A seminary building was erected next door..  It faces Stuyvesant Square, a four-acre section of the former farm which Peter Gerard Stuyvesant, the governor’s great-great-grandson, sold to the city for $5 in 1836 for use as a park.

Don’t Tease the Tiger

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Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group made a clear analogy of where we stand todaaaaaay with the pandemic, he said, Americans are teasing the tiger by letting their guard down. BA.2 is 50 to 60% more transmissible that Omicron, which was which was 50% more transmissible than Delta, which was 50% more transmissible than Alpha. Despite this Americans are going about life feeling COVID-19 is behind them because they are tired of it. The virus doesn’t care about how tired people are, it is not done with us.

Those who reject vaccines and masks will likely face a horrible future. 1 out of every 328 Americans has died from COVID. Somehow Americans have normalized this. By pretending the pandemic is over people are not only teasing the tiger they are taunting it.

America is experiencing about 30,000 new COVID infections a day, about 18,000 in the hospitals across the US, and about 800 deaths a day. Americans seem to have normalized this level of death and infection. Everyone is out having spring parties and mass gatherings.

The story has played out many times before with a series of markers that hint that a new variant may cause a new surge in cases. That is where we are right now. We are in a quiet valley and are likely to experience another surge in the weeks ahead with BA.2. Only 65% of Americans have gotten 2 doses of vaccine, of those, less than half have gotten a booster. With BA.2 rising in America the advice remains the same, continue to wear an N95 mask indoors, and wear it over your mouth AND nose. Get fully immunized and boosted. A second booster is being made available for people over 50 years old and I plan to get that ASAP. BA.2 is coming.

Putin’s Plague

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Putin has unleashed a plague on his own people, Europe and the world. Conflict and infectious disease are intimately entwined.

March 11, 2022 marked two years since the global spread of COVID-19 was characterized as a pandemic.

Detection and control of emerging infectious diseases in conflict situations are major challenges due to multiple risk factors known to enhance emergence and transmission of infectious diseases. These include inadequate surveillance and response systems, destroyed infrastructure, collapsed health systems and disruption of disease control programs, and infection control practices even more inadequate than those in resource-poor settings, as well as insecurity and poor coordination among humanitarian agencies.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, World Health Organization (WHO) Director- General, reported that so far, WHO has delivered 81 metric tonnes of supplies, and WHO is establishing a pipeline of supplies for health facilities throughout Ukraine, especially in the most affected areas. On March 8, 2022, the World Health Organization delivered five metric tons of medical supplies to Kyiv to support surgical care for 150 trauma patients, and other supplies to manage a range of health conditions for 45,000 people for a month. So far, WHO has verified 18 attacks on health facilities, health workers and ambulances, including ten deaths and 16 injuries. These attacks deprive whole communities of health care.

More than two million people have left Ukraine and WHO is supporting neighboring countries to provide health care for refugees, most of whom are women and children. Some of the main health challenges we see are hypothermia and frostbite, respiratory diseases, lack of treatment for cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and mental health issues. WHO personnel have been deployed to neighboring countries to provide mental health and psycho social support. I thank all my WHO colleagues, and all our partners in Ukraine and its neighbors and all over the world, who continue to work to protect and promote health, even in the most difficult situations.

The only real solution to this situation is peace. WHO continues to call on the Russian Federation to commit to a peaceful resolution to this crisis and to allow safe, unimpeded access to humanitarian assistance for those in need.  Putin’s Plague of war however continues unabated. The Pandemic has not ended.