The Unfinished Church

While Bermuda's Unfinished Church looks as though it was built in medieval times and left to fall apart and rot, it is actually a fairly recent construction that was just never able to be completed due to disastrous weather, the objections of the congregation, and empty coffers.

In the 1800s St. Peter's Church in St. George, Bermuda was severely damaged by a storm. The damage was so devastating that the decision was made to build a brand new church as opposed to even attempting to repair the original. Thus work on the Unfinished Church began in 1874, although it would never finish. Almost immediately, the funding for the project became an issue as there was just not that much to support the project. This led to a decision to turn the funds towards repairing the old church instead, making the new construction obsolete before it was even finished. The project was essentially abandoned despite being a great deal complete and would possibly have been picked up again were it not for a 1926 storm that destroyed a large portion of the work that had been done.

St. Peter's was restored and is now the oldest Anglican church in the New World, but the Unfinished Church still sits, much as the name describes, unfinished. The structure has been crumbling for over a hundred years but is now a well-tended national landmark, albeit one that is totally unsafe. In fact the interior of the church is now closed to visitors due to safety concerns, although the exterior of this almost-was holy house can still be visited.