Alright, coming up on your right, you’ll see the Church of the Holy Trinity-hard to miss, really. This towering stone church feels a bit like a medieval fortress, holding its ground on Main Street while the shops around it play dress-up with bright paint. Built in the 1870s, it’s one of Middletown’s best surviving examples of Gothic Revival architecture-basically, all those tall, pointy arches and impressive stonework designed to make you look up and maybe feel just a tiny bit closer to the heavens.
Step closer and you’ll spot details straight from an architectural fantasy: the hefty brownstone walls, the classic buttressed bell tower, and-front and center-a majestic rose window that catches the morning light almost theatrically. This building was the third home for a parish that dates all the way back to the 1700s, a time when most Colonial Anglican churches tended to stick with the loyalists during the Revolution. But not this bunch-they swung for the patriots, joining the rebellion, and giving their church roots with some real bite.
Oh, and if you’re wondering about that bell tower-yes, it does look like it should have a spire, but it never got one. You know what they say: spire or no spire, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Think soaring woodwork, intricate iron support columns, and stained glass so vivid it makes your phone’s screen feel downright dull.
Now, glance nearby at the former rectory-locals might call it the Bishop Acheson House, but today it houses a more… senior crowd, as apartments for elderly residents. Built in the early 1900s in solid Colonial Revival style, it once housed Reverend Edward Campion Acheson, whose son Dean later became Secretary of State under President Truman. Not bad for the local clergy.
Both buildings are still in good shape, a little reminder that here in Middletown, history doesn’t just survive-it adapts. Churches might lose their rectory, but apparently they never lose their edge.
When you’re ready, the Old Middletown Post Office is next-just head northeast on Main Street. It’s about a four-minute walk.
