 History
(NOTE: The following article has been researched from the history of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church by Mrs. Debbie Shepard, member of the parish. Some of the material represents the work of an unknown author. This article appeared in the February 20, 1975 edition of the Mountaintop Star.)
Church is unusual in that it is of Old English Gothic style and constructed of carefully selected stones like churches in Europe. Located at the corner of Church and Nuangola Roads, the building will be 50-years old in 1976.*
Though many residents refer to is a being located in Nuangola, the church actually is in Rice Township. Years ago. Lake Nuangola was probably the only area in Mountaintop known to most Wyoming Valley residents. Persons traveling to Nuangola from Wilkes-Barre or Hazleton got off the old Wilkes-Barre Hazleton (WB & H) railroad at the Nuangola Station which was located in the area where the Rice Hose House in now situated. That area of Rice consequently got the name of Nuangola Station which it still is known as. Due to the popularity of Lake Nuangola and the Nuangola Station of the railroad, and the location of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church between the two areas, identification of the church as being in Nuangola probably occurred.
Reverently ecclesiastical in feeling and English country-side in beauty, the rugged little mountain stone structure of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Rice Township is a happy and proud monument to the vision and determination of the devout few who built it in 1926.
Its inception reaches back to the year before the outbreak of World War I, when several young married couples, of varying denominations, began to meet for Bible Study in the home of Fred S. Pettis at the settlement known as Nuangola Station, a small rural community some two miles back of the summer resort village of Lake Nuangola.
Their first teacher was Rev. William Vanness, a Primitive Methodist pastor on vacation.
The Billy Sunday revival of February 1913, had stimulated religious interest, and the little group so increased that soon it was necessary to move the furniture from the Pettit dining room each Sunday morning and set up long benches there and in the kitchen, to accommodate the participants.
All local denominations were represented at first.
After a year, several members left the group, and those remaing felt a strong desire for a church.
The fact that the Episcopal denomination was chosen appears to be a chance incident.
Rev. Vanness had been called to a Primitive Methodist Church in Newark, and Mr. Pettit had been elected to succeed his as Bible teacher.
Mr. Pettit was born in Hazleton and was a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church there. At 9, he was a member of the boys' choir of St. Peter's.
It was to the Episcopal Church, therefore, that the little group now turned for leadership.
Rt. Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, Bishop of Bethlehem, was petitioned for a lay reader, Mr. Pettit was appointed, and Episcopal services were begun.
In the summer of 1916, just as the little congregation was growing beyond its capacity of Mr. Petti's house, a new chicken hatchery was built in connection with his poultry business, and he offered its use to the church people for their services, and for the children's Sunday School, which had been organized in September, 1915.
For five years the hatchery was used for all church services, meetings and entertainment.
With the establishment of a building fund, theatricals, box socials, cake walks, fruit bazaars, sauerkraut, oyster, and chicken suppers followed one after another in enthusiastic succession.
When Bishop Talbot came to administer confirmation in June, 1916, the services were held in the new village school house, deemed more fitting that a hatchery for such a solemn rite.
The fist confirmation class, except for one elderly man, was comprised of youngsters in their teens. The class consisted of Ruth Stivers, Donald Pettit, Dorothy Pettit, Edwin Humeg Pettit, Margery Weyhenmeyer, Florence Stivers, Thomas and Catherine Coller Thomas. The adult member of the class was Morgan Thomas, grandfather of Florence and Katherine.
The original communicant members were Mr. and Mrs. Archie P. Childs, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Emery, Mr. and Mrs. Fred S. Pettit, Mr. and Mrs. Williams Stivers and Mr. and Mrs Eli Weyhenmeyer.
Expansion of the poultry business made it necessary for the congregation to move, and in June, 1921, they rented a small wooden schoolhouse, from Richard Jones.
Mr. Jones had purchased the schoolhouse from the school board, and had moved it to his farm, and by the addition of a steeple had converted it into a church for a denomination that eventually was not able to support it. He had obtained discarded pews and colored glass from St. John's Church at Ashley.
Archdeacon Walter, reporting on a pastoral visit to St. Martin's in the "Bethlehem Churchman", April 1923 edition, wrote: " This was my first visit to this interesting mission right in the middle of the country. I confess, I wanted to laugh when I saw the tiny schoolhouse converted into a church in which they were doing business in the name of the Episcopal Church. Really, one feels like picking it up and putting it into one's pocket and walking off. They tell me the dimensions are 20 by 26. Yet, I counting myself, 50 persons were packed into this structured the night I was there. After evening prayer and sermon, and the sermon was as long as any sermon ought to be, they asked me to conduct the community Bible Class. Thirty-seven stayed for this. Those from away had to return when the bus came for them."
As a result of his visit, Rev. Walter became so interested in the remote little mission that he became one of the most helpful advocates in raising money for the fine stone chapel which the persevering congregation, four years later, succeeded in building and paying for. Miss Grace Thomas was another helpful money raiser.
The little church had already chosen its name, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, after that historic St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, erected during the reign of Henry the Eighth.
St. Martin, a soldier, was a fitting patron for this brave, little band who had come into being during war-tossed years.
The first tangible possession of the congregations was two acres of land at Stiver's crossroads, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Weyhenmeyer.
Construction of the building was rapid.
Ground was broken June 1, 1926, the corner stone laid on St. Martin's Day, November 11, and a service held in the basement on Christmas Day of the same year.
The first service in the church was held on Easter, 1927, and the church was consecrated, debt free, on July 4, 1927.
While excavations were in the early stages, the boss mason, an Italian, approached the building committee.
"Would you like to build a nice church?" he queried. "Good! I will build it for you, one like they have in the old country.
And he did. Selecting each stone with affectionate care, each blue or red or conglomerate rock of fine form or color he could find up and down the countryside. He blended them with the innate skill of an artisan who is an artist as well and finally achieved a cross-road chapel with the loveliness of a shrine.
T. Sommers Newman, a native of Wilkes-Barre and later a designer for the Rockefeller Center, drew the plans, in Old English Gothic style.
There is no steeple, but a rugged open belfry, and integral part of the building, holds a lovely old bell, gift of C.C. Rosser, contractor, who salvaged it from an old school house which he demolished at Nanticoke.
A maroon Bible of fine old morocco, was presented to the church the day following its dedication. It carried the following appended inscription over the signature of Rev. F. L. Flinchbaugh, then rector of St. Stephen's Church, Wilkes-Barre.
"This Bible was bought by Edwin H. Jones, formerly of the Vulcan Iron Works, from the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, and presented to the mother of Col. Dougherty.
"On July 5, 1927 it was brought by Miss Dougherty, the Colonel's sister, to Dr. Flinchbaugh, for St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Nuangola.
In 1936, St. Martin's was a mission of St. Clement's Protestant Episcopal Church, and in 1968, St. Martin's became a member of the Lower Luzerne Parrish.
Other members of the Parrish include, St. Peter's of Hazleton, and St. James, at Drifton-Freeland.
St. Martin's presently has an 11 a.m. Holy Communion Church Service** each Sunday, a growing Sunday School program, and an exciting youth program.
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* In the year 2010, the church building is 84 years old.
** Presently, St. Martin's has a 9:00 a.m. Holy Communion Church Service each Sunday
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