Old Dutch Reformed Church, Built 1818, Leeds in the Catskills, NY
Leeds, Greene County
Vintage Catskills postcard of the Old Dutch Reformed Church at Leeds, New York. The postcard was published by Louis F. Teich out of Leeds, New York. The postcard was never mailed.
The Leeds Dutch Reformed Church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an “exceptionally intact representative example of a Federal era meeting house in Greene County, New York. Constructed ca. 1818, the Federal style building is characterized by rectangular gable massing, delicate trip elements, fanlights and symmetrical fenestration. The sanctuary remains substantially intact from the early eighteenth century and the overall structure retains a remarkably high degree of integrity. The Leeds Dutch Reformed Church is one of the County’s earliest surviving church buildings and is an excellent example of its period and style in Greene County.”
The congregation was originally formed in 1732 to serve several communities including Madison (Leeds), Catskill (village) and Kiskatom. The church was located at the junction of the former Susquehanna Turnpike and the former Athens Turnpike. Land for the church was donated by Martin Schuneman, son of the congregation’s minister Reverend Johannes Schuneman. “Stone for the new church was quarried at Rouses farm near Green Lake by the local farmers. The first service in the new and at the time unfinished church was conducted on July 4, 1818. Under the direction of Rev. Isaac Wyckoff the congregations from Madison (Leeds), Catskill and Kiskatom remained united until 1833 when the Catskill (village) congregation erected a new church in the village. In 1842 the congregation from Kiskatom split from the Leeds church to establish their own church.”
