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Board of Directors
2008
President
Morris Pedersen
Vice President
Tony Moore
Treasurer
Melinda R. Miller
Secretary
Don McCarty
Merrie Lee Fowler
Tony Moore
Laura Musgrave
Corinne Scully
Jim Seely
Office
Manager
Deborah Stephens
Bookkeeper
Christine Garst/
The Nonprofit
Center
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Our Mission Statement
To ensure the legacy of the old Sylvan Chapel as a center for cultural, visual and performing arts programs.
The Fox Island Chapel Preservation Society, a community based non-profit corporation, owns, maintains, and operates the historic Chapel on Echo Bay. The Society serves the greater community by providing a variety of services and programs that maintain and perpetuate the integrity and spirit of the one-hundred-year-old Chapel. In addition to preserving the facility as an historic site and heritage center, the Society provides activities including educational programs, recitals, concerts, and other visual and performing arts events.
On Echo Bay Since 1900
The roots go deep. They reach back across the century to pioneer families who came to Fox Island from Grinnell, Iowa and started the Congregational Church of Sylvan in 1892. They named their settlement "Sylvan-Glen" in honor of the wooded beauty surrounding them and became the first permanent colony on this remote island. On August 19, 1900, "Eells Bell" rang out high atop in the new steeple announcing the dedication of the lovely white Chapel on Echo Bay.
Why "Echo Bay"? This sheltered cove on northeastern Fox Island was so named for the legend that says an echo will resound seven times around the bay before it fades away. Echoes of the past still seem to fill the cozy sanctuary which, over time, has served as celebration center, library, meeting hall, and performance venue as well as a house of worship and heart and soul of the island community's heritage.
The Fox Island Chapel Preservation Society was formed in 1999 and acquired the facility in January of 2000. In a two-year project, the lower floor was renovated including a new kitchen, a bridal party dressing area and a spectacular reception room that opens to the waterfront garden.
Additionally, an ADA-compliant, wheelchair-compatible restroom was added to the main floor and the grounds were completely renovated. Those who marvel at the Chapel's admirable condition should know that it is one of the oldest public buildings in continual use on the Peninsula.
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Photo by Jim Seely |
The majority of the funding to acquire and
maintain the Chapel on Echo Bay has been, and will continue to be,
provided through tax deductible contributions from individuals in the community. Memorials recognizing contributions to the Chapel include
inscribed
walkway bricks, pew plaques, memorial windows, and grounds plantings and
decorations.
To donate or purchase a walkway brick, please contact
us, or download our Memorial Brick
Walkway Donation Form.
And remember...the beautiful new reception hall is a perfect
facility for workshops, retreats, family events, business meetings, art shows, etc. Call us at 549-7039 or e-mail the Chapel Preservation Society
Directions:
From Interstate 5 in Tacoma,
Washington, take the Bremerton exit westbound on State Highway 16. Cross the Tacoma
Narrows Bridge and continue to the 2nd Gig Harbor exit at Olympic Drive (Fox Island). Go left at the light and follow the signs to Fox
Island. Cross the Fox Island Bridge and continue approximately 1.5 miles
to Fox Drive. Turn left, proceed one block to 6th Avenue. Turn left, bear
right at the fork, and proceed to the end of the road.
MapQuest
Map
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