Moving experience
HOLY APOSTLES EPISCOPAL CHURCH
Satellite Beach chapel thriving years after its relocation from Fort Pierce
Never let it be said that the
Episcopal Church of the Holy
Apostles was ever mobility
challenged. On the contrary,
this Satellite Beach house of worship
has a national reputation for getting
around, literally.
The story of this peripatetic chapel is
so unique that it made headlines in
Life magazine and The New York Times,
as well as in newspapers as far away
as London. The reason for all this
interest was the fact that St. Andrew’s
took to the water, the Indian River
Lagoon, to be exact, on its way to
becoming Holy Apostles Episcopal
Church in Satellite Beach.
But we’re getting ahead of the story.
It all began in the early 1950s, when
young families flocked to the Space
Coast, lured by the job opportunities in
the booming space program. Housing
developments sprouted up and down
the coastline, particularly around the
new town of Satellite Beach, but when it
came to churches, pickings were lean.
The nearest church for Satellite Beach
Episcopalians was in Eau Gallie, so
the Diocese of South Florida granted
64: SPACE COAST LIVING | SPACECOASTLIVING.COM
permission in 1957 for a barrier island
mission in the town.
ON THE MOVE
Even from the get-go, Holy Apostles had
a penchant to get moving.
One of the model homes from Taylor
Made Homes served as its first location,
but the church had to move three times
in less than two years as the model
homes kept getting sold. When all the
models were gone, the church was off
to the converted home that then served
as Satellite Beach Civic Center, where
the Rev. Hugh Cuthbertson had to keep >>
The former St. Andrew’s Episcopal chapel travels up the Indian River to its new home in Satellite Beach.
By Maria Sonnenberg
/SPACECOASTLIVING.COM
