The story of St. Katherine’s is really two stories.
The first story is that of John Harris Forster, the adventurous surveyor/miner/farmer who figured in much of Michigan’s early history, and his no less adventurous wife, Martha Mullett Forster. Their devotion to the Episcopal faith and to the memory of the little girl they lost was expressed in building a beautiful little chapel on their “Spring Brook Farm” near Williamston.
The second story is that of St. Katherine’s Church- the small chapel served by lay readers and attended by neighboring farm families; the mission of St. Paul’s Church that grew, under its first full time priest, to be a parish; the congregation that, having outgrown the chapel, built a new large church and parish hall.
The Chapel was build on a show-case farm. Over 100 years later, the fine farm, the great house and the barns are gone. But Harris and Martha Forster’s greatest legacy, the vision and devotion that led them to build St. Katherine’s Chapel, lives on in the spirit of the people who call St. Katherine’s their church family and their church home.
We hope you will join us!