Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Peter

Beside the old New York–Albany Post Road north of Rhinebeck, a fieldstone church, a frame parsonage and a small schoolhouse stand together in a rural setting. The church was built in 1786 by a Lutheran congregation descended from Palatine refugees who settled on Beekman lands. In 1823-24 the builder Stephen McCarty reworked it for $3,000, moving the entrance to the south end, adding aisles and a new pulpit, and raising a four-stage tower. The parsonage, built in 1798 for Reverend Fredrich Quitman, is a two-story frame house with brick nogging; his son John Quitman, later a Mexican War general and Mississippi governor, was born there. The schoolhouse dates from about 1833. As nearby Red Hook and Rhinebeck grew, the congregation declined, and the buildings stayed in their rural context. Today the church hosts occasional meetings, the schoolhouse is a museum, and a civic group uses the parsonage.