Built in 1887–89, this Shingle-style church is the least-altered surviving example of ecclesiastical architecture in Maine designed by the noted exponent of the style, William Ralph Emerson.

Principally used as a summer chapel, it is affiliated with the Episcopal mission of St. Mary's in Northeast Harbor.

[1] St. Jude's is set on a wooded lot on the south side of Peabody Drive (ME 3) on a peninsula west of the village center of Seal Harbor, which is on the south side of Mount Desert Island on the central coast of Maine.

Attached to the main building at the western end is the guild hall, a single-story hip-roof structure built out of similar materials.

The St. Jude's Episcopal mission was established in 1886, and the church was built in 1887–89, funded by wealthy summer residents of the area.