We are very happy to announce the recent purchase of a beautiful Rodgers Artist Series 579 organ by the folks at Chapel by the Sea.
Situated adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico beach and among palm, seagrape, and gumbo limbo trees, Captiva Chapel By The Sea building was originally constructed in 1903 as a county schoolhouse and then purchased in 1921 by the Methodist Church as a mission building. During those school years, it was also used for religious services whenever a circuit preacher would be in the area. Because of the infrequency of those religious services, at a time when Captiva Island was growing in population, the chapel (then known as the Wayside Chapel) evolved into the Chapel By The Sea and services were then held with more regularity with a circuit preacher brought over from the mainland, by ferry.
The Chapel By The Sea was re-organized in 1948 and began regular Sunday services. In 2013 the Captiva School and Chapel By The Sea Historic District was recognized by, and added to, the National Register of Historic Places.
One of the treasured traditions of Captiva Chapel By The Sea is their Christmas Eve service, enjoyed now-a-days by locals and by visitors from around the globe. The evening service concludes when worshipers from within the chapel join those gathered outside, each with a lighted candle, and Christmas carols are sung while gulfshore waves lap close by.
