LYNN – The Rhodes Chapel in Pine Grove Cemetery opened its doors to the public for the first time in over 60 years Sunday.
Hundreds of people, many for the first time, walked through the chapel doors, stopping to take photos of the building’s dark walls, stained glass, and tall triangular ceiling. The 1,100-square-foot chapel, built for $10,000 in 1891 in a Romanesque Revival style, was Amos Rhode’s gift to the City of Lynn in memory of her late husband.
Standing in the Chapel’s doorway greeting guests was Pine Grove Cemetery Commission Chairman Arthur Dulong, who said that Sunday’s opening marks the first time the chapel’s doors have opened to the public since the 1960s.
“It’s been closed since the ‘60s, so now, as chairman of the commission, I figured it was about time we got together and formulated a plan to restore it for public use,” Dulong said.
Dulong said that when the chapel is fully renovated, he hopes to see it rented out for weddings, funerals, or any events of a similar nature.
“Weddings, funerals, anybody who wants to rent it. We want to make it self-sufficient, so it’ll pay for itself,” Dulong said.
Dulong said that renovating the church will cost a little over two million dollars, and that he’s waiting for the master plan, which the Spencer Preservation Group is currently preparing, before he can collect donations to install electricity and bathrooms in the chapel.
Rhodes Chapel sits on a hill guarding the burial grounds of historic figures and fallen soldiers from the American Civil War, The Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Additionally, three Medal of Honor recipients: John Gregory Bishop Adams, Franklin Falls, and William Poole rest behind the chapel in Pine Grove Cemetery.
“Just the architecture, and looking at, and realizing that something has to be done, we can’t just let the history of the city go. We finally got on the list of historic places, and then we realized some of the biggest names in the history of the state were buried here,” Dulong said. “We want to open it up again and let people see the beauty in it.”
