St Peter's Episcopal Church and the See House

St Peter's Episcopal Church and the See House. . , The first Episcopal Church service in Sitka was held at the Presbyterian Chapel on Thanksgiving Day in 1896. The ground was broken for St. Peter's in 1899 and the first service in the new church was held on Thanksgiving Day of that year., In all, three lots were purchased for the church in 1898 for a total of $766.50, largely financed by local contributions and built for something over $5,000.00. A Pro-cathedral was formed; the church was called St. Peter's By-the-Sea and consecrated on April 15, 1900., Legends have grown up surrounding the origin of the beautiful stained-glass window at the front of the church, largely because it contains a Star of David; however, the definitive story has yet to be told., The See House, or official seat of the bishop, is so called because St. Peter's was the seat of the Episcopal Church in Alaska and therefore the home of Bishop Peter Trimble Rowe. The house, completed and occupied in 1905, was considered to be "one of the grandest houses in town." An annex to the See House was built circa 1956 to serve as living quarters for the Rector when the former home became the church social center and offices. Bishop Rowe, who did a lot of work on the house and built the stonewall, said that he found it hard "after handling trowel, plane, shovel, hammer, wheelbarrow, paint brush, and placing rocks all day, to handle so small a thing as a pen at night.", Bishop Rowe, his wife Dora and two of their sons are all interred on the grounds in front of the church., All are Welcome..