Shortly after World War II, the First Unitarian Parish Church of Eastham had ceased holding regular services at its home, which came to be known as Chapel in the Pines.
Attendance was down, with services only being held in the summer, and the Rev. Robert T. Weston Sr. was looking to change the downward momentum.
“If you are going to have a glorified social club and nothing more, we might as well close the doors of the church,” Russell Chase recalled Rev. Weston saying during a 1977 Eastham Historical Society interview. “I was wondering how it would go over and no one took offense and everyone got busy.”
“Getting busy” seems to be the mantra of the groups that have called the Samoset Avenue church home, whether it be the First Parish, the First Encounter Coffeehouse, or the Unitarian/Universalist Nauset Fellowship, which is seeking $186,000 in Community Preservation Act funds for the chapel in Monday’s town election.