St. Mary Star of the Sea (Newport, Vermont)

St. Mary Star of the Sea, a Roman Catholic church, is located at the crest of Prospect Street, Newport, Vermont, overlooking Lake Memphremagog.

An unknown Canadian priest celebrated the first mass in Newport in 1840 at a place called Indian Point.

The cornerstone for the building was laid on July 4, 1875, and the finished church, capable of seating 250, was blessed in 1877.

The name, "Star of the Sea", was chosen because the view of the lake seemed to coincide with a venerable church title for Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Children were taught, first by lay teachers, then by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who arrived in 1905.

[2] They also staffed and operated the White House hospital, on a hill above the parish hall.

Part of the solution involved selling the school building to the teaching nuns.

[5] Resting at the highest point of the peninsula of Newport, the church with its twin spires, gold crosses and statue of the Virgin Mary was formally dedicated August 1, 1909.

It is rumored that the scene on the church ceiling was done by Charles Hardin Andrus, a then famous local artist.

The boys' basketball team won the Vermont state Division I championship in 1968.

[15] The boys' soccer team won the Vermont state Division II championship in 1979.

[15] The boys' soccer team won the Vermont state Division III championship in 1981.

[16] 1982 and 1984[15] Principals included Sister Marie de la Assumption (1934-) Garry F.Coburn (1984-1986) The parish received news coverage in 2004 due to a controversy over the placement of cellular transmitters and receivers in the three belltowers of the church.

Members of the parish were concerned over health risks the equipment may cause, the use of a place of spiritual worship for profit, and a city bylaw mandating that no building may have more than one use.