The Chapel in the Pines

The Eastham Universalist Society was established on August 12, 1889. Captain Edward Penniman headed a subscription list for the funds needed to build a place of worship and took untiring interest in its completion. A site was donated by W.H. Nickerson, and a pretty church 40 by 50 feet was built at a cost of $2,300. It was dedicated on the last Wednesday in January 1890. The membership of the Society numbered 49.

The Unitarian and Universalist national churches merged in 1960. Worship continued sporatically until 1974 in what was now called "The Chapel in the Pines." The first concert sponsored by the First Encounter Coffee House was presented on June 28, 1974. The Nauset Fellowship was formed in 1978 when the First Parish in Brewster offered the building for sale. The Fellowship paid off the mortgage by putting on chowder suppers for ten weeks each summer for 10 years.

At present the building is used by The Nauset Fellowship, the First Encounter Coffee House, Am ha Yam, AA, Narcotics Anonymous,the Metropolitan Community Church, the Eastham Public Library, and, as appropriate, other local groups and the general public.

See: A History of The Universalist Church in Eastham, by Rosemary Abbot, Karie Miller, Fran and Bob Olsen, Bob Seay. 2001.