St. Peter's-San Pedro Episcopal Church

09/05/2026

By early September of 1692, Philip English and his wife Mary had been in exile in New York for a month, both wrongly accused of witchcraft. Eleven innocents had already been hanged for the crime back home in Salem and there was no end in sight.

Learn more of this compelling story in The Making of a WITCH, A Play in One Act, Saturdays from September 26 to October 24. Two performances, at 2 pm and 4 pm, in St. Peter’s Chapel. Entrance on Brown Street, opposite the Visitor Center and parking garage.

Purchase tickets: https://www.stpeters-sanpedro.org/making-of-a-witch

09/03/2026

09/02/2026

Dogs of St. Peter’s Garden: This is Harlow!

08/29/2026

Unitarian minister William Bentley kept a diary for 35 years, from 1784-1819. It’s a fascinating look at Salem life in the late eighteenth to nineteenth centuries.

In August of 1801, Bentley, then rector of Salem’s East Church, wrote in his diary about a conversation with Philip English’s granddaughter, 80-year-old widow Susanna Touzel Hathorne. Her memories of the earliest days of St. Peter’s Church are enlightening. She remembered, “The windows of the Church were glazed in [Philip] English’s shop in front of the Mansion house, Essex Street, corner of English Street, by a Mr. Rutland & his daughter from Beverly. That the supper at the raising of the Church was at James Gibson’s who lived where Deacon Holman now lives, Essex Street, east side of Cambridge Street …”

“The painting of the Lord’s prayer, 10 commandments & Creed cost £300, tho’ I suspect she was deceived in the sum. It was probably smaller as Esq. [William] Bowditch made the matter memorable by asking the people how much they all were worth, & then by telling them what they all cost. The painter came from Boston.” [This is St. Peter’s triptych by John Gibbs.]

“She supposed that there were about 12 original proprietors of the Church, some of which lived in Marblehead. She remembers her G. Father English gave the land, & her Father Touzel assisted. Capt. John Clarke, Mr. James Gibson, a Mr. Manning, & Dr. Cutter, Mr. Peirce & Harwood supplied the desk till Brockwell’s time. She was christened by Mr. Brockwell. [The Rev. Brockwell was the first minister of St. Peter’s, 1738-1746]. She remembers them all at her grandfather’s and father’s.”

Susanna Hathorne died just a year after speaking to Bentley, in August of 1802. We’re grateful that he captured so many important Salem stories.

Learn more about the fascinating life of witch trials survivor and St. Peter’s founder Philip English with The Making of a WITCH, A Play in One Act: How Wealthy Merchant Philip English Became the Accused. Beginning in one month, on Saturdays from September 26 to October 24, at 2 pm and 4 pm, in St. Peter’s Chapel. Historic church tours follow each performance!

Tickets on sale now: https://www.stpeters-sanpedro.org/making-of-a-witch

08/26/2026

What’s the story, morning glory? Coming Soon, the true story of Philip English! The Making of a WITCH, A Play in One Act, Saturdays from September 26 to October 24, at 2 pm and 4 pm. St. Peter’s Chapel.

Tickets available here: https://www.stpeters-sanpedro.org/making-of-a-witch

08/24/2026

British General Thomas Gage’s brief and unhappy time in Salem peaked on this day in 1774.

A few days earlier, Salem’s Committee of Correspondence assembled to elect representatives to the upcoming September convention, the purpose of which was to address the British Parliament’s recent intolerable acts. On this date Gage, who was the newly-appointed royal governor of Massachusetts, demanded the arrest of all committee members by Salem’s Justice of the Peace Peter Frye. Their meeting, Gage said, had been unlawful. Only two committee members agreed to post bond to insure a future court appearance; the rest refused. Although Gage threatened to jail all of those who did not comply, he did nothing, likely influenced by the threat of thousands gathered in protest. Gage was outnumbered, with only 1300 troops. He returned to Boston days later, fearing for his life.

Loyalist members of St. Peter’s Church who had welcomed the new governor’s arrival less than three months earlier must have been uneasy with his sudden departure.

[John Singleton Copley painted General Thomas Gage in 1768. At one time this painting hung in Gage’s homes in New York and in London. Today it is in the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven. CT.]

08/20/2026

There are many myths about Philip English, founder, in 1733, of St. Peter’s, the first Anglican church in Puritan Salem. One of the most enduring myths is that he was a Huguenot. There are several accounts through the years labeling him as such, even to the present day.

Philip English was an Anglican, not a Huguenot. Both religious groups are Protestant and formed in the sixteenth century. Followers of the Church of England, or Anglicans, are organized with a top-down hierarchical structure led by bishops, use the Book of Common Prayer and a structured liturgy, and, while retaining some Catholic traditions, follow Protestant teachings. Huguenots, on the other hand, are French Protestants of the Calvinist persuasion, with a bottom-up structure led by laymen and a more austere and informal worship. Calvinists believe in pre-destination, the idea that all events are pre-determined by God.

The mistaken religious tag likely has its origins in the complicated history of the Isle of Jersey, where Philip English was born. He was baptized at Holy Trinity Church as Philippe L’Anglois (Philip the Englishman) in 1651. The family name may signify his English, rather than French, origins.

The Bailiwick of Jersey includes Jersey, the largest of the English Channel Islands, plus two unoccupied islands. It is geographically closer to mainland France (14 miles away) than to England (85 miles away). Jersey was formerly a part of Normandy, a region of northwestern France, from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries. France and England split in the thirteenth century, at which time the Channel Islands chose to remain loyal to England. Both Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey are Crown Dependencies of England – not part of England but self-governing possessions. England is responsible for their defense and international relations. This complex history is why there are both English and French influences evident here. In Philippe’s time, the principal language was French, or a French dialect known as Jerriais. Today the principal language is English.
Beginning in the sixteenth century, many French Calvinists, or Huguenots, fled to Jersey for safety from Catholic persecution in their home country. The fact that the French-speaking Philippe was from Jersey is perhaps the reason for the frequent mistake in his religious identity. Philip English never hid the fact that he was Anglican, however, and his religious beliefs played a significant role in his life.

To learn more about Philip English, join us this fall for the third season of The Making of a WITCH, A Play in One Act: How Wealthy Merchant Philip English Became the Accused. Tickets on sale now: https://www.stpeters-sanpedro.org/making-of-a-witch

08/17/2026

Architect Isaiah Rogers was born on this day in 1800 in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Among the many buildings he designed is the 1833 granite church of St. Peter’s-San Pedro, which replaced the original wooden church built 100 years earlier.

St. Peter’s is a beautiful example of Gothic Revival style, with its bell tower, crenelated parapet, and arched windows. In his classic book Architecture of Salem, Bryant Tolles Jr. called it “one of the most outstanding ecclesiastical structures of its style and type in the United States.” Housed in the tower is a tolling bell from 1740, cast for St. Peter’s by Abel Rudhall in Gloucester, England, and a ten-bell carillon from 1885. The former is thought to be the second oldest church bell in the country.

Rogers was known for his hotels and courthouses, including Boston’s Tremont House, New York City’s Astor House, and Ohio’s Hamilton County Courthouse. From 1863-1865, he was the Supervising Architect of the United States. The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the Treasury Department that designed federal buildings from 1852 to 1939.

08/16/2026

Join us in our welcoming, affirming and historic church! All are most welcome here no matter where you are on your journey of faith.