SPRING 2022: 65
sermons short, since the space was
needed by another ambulatory church
later in the morning.
After the Civic Center was too small for
the growing congregation, the church
borrowed space from the nearby
Jewish synagogue. To keep everything
portable, the altar was fashioned from
a door with hinged legs that could be
set up in seconds, anywhere.
Through bake and rummage sales,
puppet shows and dances, the
congregation of 30 families amassed
$7,500 to purchase 1½ acres in Eau
Gallie Shores. All they needed was a
church building.
As it happened, St. Andrew’s Episcopal
Church in Fort Pierce had a perfectly
good church that needed a home. In
1959, St. Andrew’s had unveiled its
new building and no longer needing
the original Carpenter Gothic church,
donated it, fully furnished with pews,
pulpit, bishop’s chair, baptismal font,
lectern and altar, everything but the
stained glass windows. They were
replaced with opaque glass, the kind
folks used for privacy.
UP THE RIVER
Now the trick was getting the church
from Fort Pierce to Satellite Beach.
The little 150-seat church already had
a reputation for travel. Originally built
on North Second Street, it was later
moved to South Indian River Drive,
within walking distance from the city
pier. The proposed new church site
was also steps away from the Indian
River Lagoon. Barge operator Claire
Coffee happened to be Episcopalian
and happy to help. The stage was set
for St. Andrew’s to transform into Holy
Apostles after baptism on the river.
On July 14, 1959, after being jacked
up and moved onto a barge, the little
white church was off on a 60-mile
adventure north. Along the banks
of the lagoon were St. Andrew’s
parishioners bidding farewell to
the church where they had been
christened and married.
Who was the experienced captain
tasked with navigating a 35-foottall
structure on a 35-foot-wide
barge under six bridges and up
the Intracoastal? Seventeen-year-
MARIA SONNENBERG
The Rev. Todd Schmidtetter leads the congregation at
Holy Apostles E >> piscopal Church in Satellite Beach.
Former parishioners
wave farewell to the old
St. Andrew’s Episcopal
Church in July 1959 as it
gets underway.
LIFE