What to See in Summit - Top Sights and Attractions

Episcopal church in Summit, New Jersey. Calvary Episcopal Church is one of the largest Episcopal congregations in New Jersey. It belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Newark of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, a member of the Anglican Communion.

In 1854 when the church began, Summit, New Jersey, was a summer retreat for New York City residents.

One of those residents was The Reverend Thomas Cook, assistant at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York. Mr. Cook started Episcopal services in his home in Summit in 1852. As the congregation grew, it built a church in 1854 on Springfield Avenue. The wooden church seated only 75 people, and was the first church of any denomination in Summit. At the time, it was the only public building in Summit besides the train depot.

By 1872 the congregation had outgrown its original building. It built a stone church at the corner of Springfield Avenue and Beechwood Road. This building served the congregation until January 8, 1893. That Sunday morning the rector and sexton lit the gas lamps for the Sunday morning service. The Christmas greens caught fire; the building blazed to ruins in less than an hour.

Under the direction of a new rector, the Reverend Walker Gwynne, the parish purchased land for the present building, at the corner of Woodland and DeForest Avenues. Completed in 1896, the present building, of granite with trimmings of Ohio and Indiana limestone, seats 700.

Calvary Episcopal Church's stained glass windows are notable. The windows on either side of the altar were created by Henry Holiday in 1925. Another 1925 Holiday window, in the nave, depicts Jesus calming the storm.

The rose window employs Tiffany Favrile Glass, from the studio of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Designed by Frederick Wilson, its panes represent the Beatitudes.^[4]

Building in Summit, New Jersey. Wallace Chapel AME Zion Church is located at 138-142 Broad Street at the intersection of Broad and Orchard streets in Summit, Union County, New Jersey, United States. It was organized in 1923 and the church building was completed in 1937, the second black church in that city. It was listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places in 2007. In 2008, the General Conference of The AME Zion Church designated Wallace Chapel AME Zion Church a Historical Landmark of the AME Zion Church.

The congregation was first established in 1923, and met at the local YMCA. Two years later, The Rev. Florence Spearing Randolph, a former suffragette and activist, was appointed temporary pastor. In 1928 the church acquired its first building, a small house on the church's current site with enough space on the first floor to seat a hundred people at services. This duplex house is now the parsonage and community house. Rev. Dr. Florence S. Randolph served as pastor of the church from 1925 until her retirement in 1946. Rev. Dr. Denison D. Harrield, Jr. was appointed as pastor of the church on October 1, 1989.^[5]

Mansion. La Fetra Mansion located in Summit, New Jersey, United States, is a mansion designed and built for industrialist H. A. LaFetra of the Royal Baking Powder Company by Henry Bacon, the same year he founded his architectural firm, Brite and Bacon. He is best known for his last work, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Since its completion in 1899, this mansion has been owned by industry leaders.

The home, with 8,000 square feet (740 m2) of living space on the first two floors, and more than 2,000 square feet (190 m2) on the third floor, was featured in the September 1901 issue of Architecture Magazine, the professional journal of the industry. It has been one of the premier properties in this area for over a century.^[7]

Historical landmark in Summit, New Jersey. Twin Maples is an estate in Summit, Union County, New Jersey, United States, listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. Twin Maples was built in 1908, designed by a well-known New York and Montclair architect, Alfred F. Norris, who designed the home in the neoclassical style with a facade dominated by a full-height porch, supported by classical columns.

Twin Maples was purchased by the Fortnightly Club in 1949 and remains the home of the Fortnightly Club (established 1893), as well as the Summit Junior Fortnightly Club, both 501(c)3 charitable organizations. In 2007, the two clubs joined to renovate historic Twin Maples and opened her doors to area charities for their fundraising events and meetings at suitably low rates.^[8]