St. Colomba's Chapel (Berkeley Memorial Chapel)

St. Mary's in Portsmouth, Church of the Holy Cross in Middletown, and now a third charming Episcopal country church, all less than half an hour from one another: such a conjunction of small country churches of such architectural distinction is unique in the state. St. Colomba's follows a formula comparable to that of St. Mary's: a masonry church set in a graveyard overarched by splendid trees, with bellcote, porch entrance at the side, and projecting chancel. But St. Colomba's is even more diminutive. It is not elevated with a long drive up to the church, but sits in a V-shaped intersection with a lych-gate entrance, suggesting that here one leaves vehicles behind and walks into the sacred precinct (although modern parking facilities make it possible to ignore the building's message). The masonry is rougher than that of St. Mary's; there is no ceremonial door at the front; the bellcote is smaller and simpler; the slate roof slopes closer to the ground. Inside is a comparable plaster and wood-beamed ceiling. The window to St. Colomba is by John La Farge. Maitland Armstrong, a disciple of La Farge, executed the chancel window dedicated to St. George, the patron saint of the Episcopal Church, as well as the tiny pointed stained glass windows ranged either side of the nave, each with a nautical sign. Opposite the porch entrance, a plaque commemorates the famous nineteenth-century actor Edwin Booth (brother of John Wilkes, Lincoln's assassin), who was an early summer resident of Indian Avenue. (His house, Boothden, is at number 357.)