Chapel by the Sea

Chapel by the Sea Beginnings

Chapel by the Sea was a Fort Myers Beach, Florida church. Established in 1938, it was the oldest congregation in Fort Myers. Initially, the church met at a pavilion at Red Coconut Park, then in various homes, on boats, and even in a casino before constructing the island’s first church building. The first worship service occurred on Palm Sunday, April 10, 1939.

The community’s Easter Sunrise Service on the Beach began in 1939 and continued until its closure as a service of the Beach Ministerial Association. The island’s first Vacation Bible School was established in 1939 and has continued to provide a community Vacation Bible School without interruption. Additionally, the church started serving as the community’s first movie theater in 1942. The first pews were added and dedicated on Palm Sunday, 1942.

The church bell was rescued from the scrap yard during World War II. What would have been used to make bullets became used to announce worship services on the island. Soldiers from Page Field installed it in the bell tower in 1942 and it was displayed in the sanctuary’s narthex.

Chapel by the Sea assisted in establishing the sister churches on Estero Island. Starting in 1945, they brought in a Roman Catholic priest to conduct Catholic Mass, which continued until the Catholic Church of the Ascension was established in the 1950s.

As the church prepared to construct a larger sanctuary in 1985, the original sanctuary was donated to a sister church in Fort Myers. The final worship service in the original sanctuary took place on Palm Sunday, 1984.

1985 Sanctuary

The stained glass windows in the Chapel by the Sea were created by a craftsman in Stone Mountain, Georgia, in honor of his mother, who was a member of the church. However, one of the windows featuring a whale was not used because whales are not typically found in the local Gulf waters. This particular window can be found in a private home on Bay Street in Fort Myers Beach. It’s worth noting that all windows in the 1985 facility, except for three, came from the original Chapel by the Sea. The Dolphin Trinity Window and the King’s Crown were specifically designed for the 1985 sanctuary.

The pipe organ was installed in 1994, but only after facing significant challenges. The company that installed the organ declared bankruptcy after issuing a check to the Moller Organ Company. Despite efforts from investors to revive the company, which had previously manufactured organs for renowned locations such as Camp David, the Air Force Academy Chapel, and many large churches across the nation, they were only able to build a few organs before permanently shutting down. The chapel now houses one of the last two Moller Organs ever manufactured.

Hurricane Charley

In 2004, Chapel by the Sea sustained over $1.5 million in damages from Hurricane Charley. The original Dolphin Trinity Window was blown out by the storm. However, the center of the window, depicting a ship with a cross-shaped mast, miraculously survived. It was then placed in a shadow box behind the church’s ship-like pulpit.

In 2010, during a challenging economy, the Fort Myers community came together to save Chapel by the Sea. The church was at risk of collapsing as its foundations had eroded from age and the floods of Hurricane Charley. Thanks to the generous donations of many people, the church’s foundation was restored, allowing it to continue serving the community for years to come.

Hurricane Ian

On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 mph. The hardest-hit areas were in Lee County, where catastrophic damage occurred as Ian pushed a destructive 10–15 foot storm surge into Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel Island, and Bonita Springs, just south of where its eye made landfall. Combined with high winds, this resulted in damage to 52,514 buildings and homes, including minor damage to 16,314 structures, major damage to 14,245 structures, and the destruction of 5,369 others—a preliminary estimate placed building damages at $6.8 billion. Ian is the costliest hurricane in Florida on record.

Later, describing the storm and destruction the Chapel by the Sea sanctuary incurred, Interim Pastor Reverend Dr. James Berger said, “The Gulf side was wood frame construction and it shredded, pulverized, all that then used that as a battering ram and smashed through our facilities and went on through Silver Hall and took out all the windows. The walls remained in there, they were concrete block, but all the windows went out and everything’s destroyed in there as well.”

The church’s roof sustained damage in several areas, and the flooding that entered the sanctuary caused significant damage to the floors, causing them to give way. All the bibles, hymnals, chairs, and the pulpit were destroyed, as was the newly acquired audio and visual equipment used for live streaming services. Additionally, three grand pianos were washed away and never recovered, along with a safe containing many of the church’s historical records.

Elder Diane Means served as the clerk of session, a job that required her to keep track of legal documentation, every session and meeting of the congregation, and who joined and left the church. “The big, huge five-foot-by-seven-foot, four-inch walls solid, metal safe, was pushed out of the building and lost along with everything else. That’s where most of my historical data is, in the sea somewhere,” she said. Thankfully, 80% of their documents were saved online, but the irreplaceable artifacts inside the safe were never found.

The church’s original bell was found in the rubble, as well as half of a clamshell that they use in baptisms. A memorial garden is beside the church, and the plaques that were interred there were salvageable. The iconic, center-stained glass dolphin window was saved and put into storage. The window is a replica of the original destroyed by Hurricane Charley in 2004. Two years ago, the congregation went through considerable expense to waterproof the wall around the window to protect it with new framing. Handbells and chimes were also salvaged.

Demolition

After the storm, Chapel by the Sea didn’t receive the 50% ruling. According to the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce website, “The 50% Rule is a regulation of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that prohibits improvements to a structure exceeding 50% of its market value unless the entire structure is brought into full compliance with current flood regulations.”

As weeks passed, the congregation dwindled. Many members lived on the beach and lost their homes or lived in condos that are now uninhabitable. Hurricane Ian’s destruction caused the congregation to disperse; some now reside in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Canada, and other parts of Florida. The average age of the congregation was 82.

It was determined that rebuilding the church was not feasible and that demolition was the only option. In January 2024, the Chapel by the Sea sanctuary was demolished. Later, it was decided that the oldest church congregation on Fort Myers Beach would be shutting down after the commissioners of the Peace River Presbytery voted to dissolve Chapel by the Sea.

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