The historic Mitchell Hollow Union Chapel, also known as Union Chapel, is located in the town of Windham in the northern Catskills. The church is situated on the north side of Mill Road at its intersection with Mitchell Hollow Road (County Route 21).

Mitchell Hollow Union ChapelThe Mitchell Hollow Union Chapel, also known as simply Union Chapel, in the town of Windham, Greene County was constructed in 1897. It was constructed in the Greek Revival architectural style as a single-story building on a three by three plan. The church is “significant as a representative example of late nineteenth century classically inspired ecclesiastic architecture.” The church is a local landmark and remains active in the community today. The Mitchell Hollow Union Chapel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The church was constructed through community donations of labor, lumber and cash as well as the donation of 1/8 acre of land by Edgar Brockett. The church was built in 1897 and dedicated on April 21, 1898, with the dedicatory sermon provided by Reverend Henry M. Dodd. The church remains active in the community today.

As for the Mitchell Hollow name of the church, an article published in 1887 in the Windham Journal talked of the early history of the location.

“Mitchell Hollow was first settled about the year 1760 by a Mitchell family. They built a log house on the flats lying just east of the farm now owned by Frank Finch. These flats were afterward owned by my father, Sylvester Andrus. This was then in the heart of a howling wilderness, abounding with deer, panthers and wolves.

There is very little known of the history of the Mitchell family, from the fact that they either died or scattered before Mitchell Hollow was settled to any considerable extent. . . I remember, when a small boy, of seeing a daughter of the original Mitchell. She was then an old woman. She told me that when she was a little girl, she would help her father boil sap, and on one occasion, when returning from the bush after nightfall, she was compelled to carry a brand of fire to protect herself from the wolves, as they were howling around her in some numbers.

The Mitchells were about the only settlers in Mitchell Hollow until about the beginning of this century [19th], when, about that time, there came in old Deacon Finch with his sons, Elam, Wells, Willis and Clark. His other two sons, Justus and William, I believe were born in the Hollow.” (Andrus, Enos C. “Early History of Mitchell Hollow.” The Windham Journal. Windham, NY. June 11, 1925.)

Mitchell Hollow Union Chapel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as “a representative example of late nineteenth century classically inspired ecclesiastic architecture in the community of Windham. The building, albeit simple in plan, is an important surviving example of church architecture constructed to service the year-round population of the upper Catskill region.” The church stands virtually intact from its construction more than a century ago.