On the outskirts of Tivoli, NY, a small Hudson River village, sits a small, fairly nondescript church known simply as “the Red Church.” Although it’s never had its own congregation and it ceased housing a congregation of any kind more than a century ago, the former Dutch Reformed church has found a special place in the history of the town and the hearts of its residents.

Ryan Wolfe, a carpenter with Woodside and Young General Contractors of Poughkeepsie, gets a piece of wood needed for a temporary platform being built on the roof of the historic Red Church just outside the village of Tivoli recently.

Believed to have been constructed in the 18th century, it is the oldest building in the town of Red Hook and one of the oldest remaining churches in Dutchess County. It is considered to be the mother church of St. John’s Reformed Church of Upper Red Hook. Visitors to the church have included first ladies Martha Washington and Eleanor Roosevelt. At least two books have been written about the Red Church and up until a couple of years ago, the village of Tivoli would once each year hold a board meeting in the church.
But the forces of nature and time have taken their toll on the little Red Church, and the building has fallen into a state of disrepair.

“Right now, things are in very poor condition,” said Gloria Trezza, chairwoman of the fundraising committee for the Red Church Cemetery Association. “It’s in very poor condition inside and out. It’s structurally unsound.”

Over the years, efforts have been made to raise the needed funds to repair and maintain the aging structure.

About eight years ago, buttresses were erected to stabilize the west side of the church and a significant amount of work was done to the bell tower, however a lack of funding had prevented the volunteer Red Hook Cemetery Association, which owns the church, from doing much else to the building.

Until now.