St. Mary's Episcopal Church

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Now, there are old churches scattered all across Texas hill country, and most of them have a story worth pullin' over for. But this one, sitting in Lampasas County, has got a particular kind of staying power.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church was built in 1884, cut right from native limestone, and it is still in use today. Still standing.

Still serving. The oldest church in the area that can make that claim. But here's the part that gets you thinking about how wide a world can fold itself into a small Texas town.

The church was modeled after a Gothic church in Rugby, England. Not because someone had a photograph lying around, or because the architect fancied England. No, it's because one of the pioneer communicants, a man named W.

T. Campbell, was born there. Rugby, England, was his birthplace, and when it came time to shape this sanctuary out of Texas limestone, that distant Gothic form is what came through.

And Campbell wasn't alone in building this parish. The founders include A. H.

Barnes, Dr. J. C.

Bierbower, T. H. Haynie, W.

C. Price, J. F.

White, J. E. Raiburne, and W.

H. Webber. A whole roster of names from the early days of Lampasas, men who decided this place was worth putting down roots, worth cutting stone for.

Step inside, and what you find is something rare. The interior decor, the oaken altar, the pews, it is all original. More than a hundred years later, and the woodwork that greeted the first congregation is still there greeting whoever walks through the door today.

And then there is the Tintoretto panel. The marker calls it famous, and leaves it at that. A work attributed to the great Venetian master Tintoretto, right there enhancing the sanctuary of a limestone church in central Texas, built from the memory of a Gothic chapel in England by men who were making a new home on the frontier.

Some buildings just carry more world inside them than you'd ever expect from the outside. St. Mary's is one of those.

What the marker says

Built 1884 of native limestone. Oldest church in area still in use. Modeled after Gothic church in Rugby, England, birthplace of W. T. Campbell, pioneer communicant. Other parish founders include: A. H. Barnes, Dr. J. C. Bierbower, T. H. Haynie, W. C. Price, J. F. White, J. E. Raiburne, and W. H. Webber. Interior decor including oaken altar and pews is original. Sanctuary enhanced by famous Tintoretto panel. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967