Washington Heights & Inwood Online

An annual Christmas tradition that is celebrated in northern Manhattan is the Clement Clarke Moore Candlelight Commemoration. This ceremony, which is held on the Sunday before Christmas at the Church of the Intercession, honors the author of the famous poem “A Visit From Saint Nicholas.” The ceremony consists of traditional Christmas Carols, the reading of the poem and afterwards a processional to the grave of Moore in the western division of Trinity Cemetery at 155th Street.

The ceremony was instituted by Reverend Milo Hudson Gates, Rector of the church, in 1911. Gates wanted to have an annual service to remember the “Poet of Chelsea” who wrote the internationally famous poem. Construction of the present structure on 155th and Broadway had started that year and is the third structure that bears the name of the church. The first Church of the Intercession was located at 154th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and dates to the 1850s. The second church, erected about 1900, was located on Broadway between 157th and 158th Streets, in anticipation of the extension of the IRT Subway to facilitate the parishioners’ travel time to the area.

Reverend Canon Frederick B. Williams, who has been Rector of the church since 1971, officiates the ceremony. In the past, special guest speakers who have read the poem to the children as they sit on the steps to the altar included Joyce Dinkins, wife of former Mayor David Dinkins; radio and television personality G. Keith Alexander; and actor Avery Brooks, star of the television series “Start Trek: Deep Space Nine.” There have been guest vocal and instrumental groups performing at the ceremony, such as the Boys Choir of Harlem.

At the end of the ceremony, there is a procession to Moore’s grave for a gravesite mass. The path is lit with candles, and some of the guests are given hurricane lanterns, which are to be left by the gravesite to help light the way and adds to the occasion. Afterward, there are refreshments, and one of the church parishioners who is dressed as Father Christmas hands out candy to the children.

Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) was the son of Dr. Benjamin Moore the sixth Rector of Trinity Parish. The family lived on a 94-acre estate in what is now the Chelsea section of Manhattan. Moore, a minister in his own right, was the benefactor of General Theological Seminary, which was located on part of his estate. The Seminary was founded in 1817.

In 1822 Moore wrote a poem as a Christmas present for his six children. His daughter Charity, who was so enchanted with the poem, asked that the poem be read a second time. Years later the poem was sent to the Sentinel in Troy, New York, by a close friend of the family. The paper published it without giving credit to any author. Moore eventually took acknowledgment to writing the poem which had become widely published as a Christmas poem for all to cherish. Moore retired to his daughter’s home in Rhode Island, where he died. His body was interred at Saint Luke’s Church and cemetery on Hudson Street. In 1890, Saint Luke’s sold the property and the Poet of Chelsea and his family were reinterred at Trinity Cemetery in upper Manhattan.

Trinity Cemetery, located between 153rd and 155th Streets, Broadway and Riverside Drive, was designated a landmark in 1969. Originally purchased by Trinity Parish in 1843 from the estate of John James Audubon, it contains the remains of much of New York City’s High Society.

Within the cemetery are such notables as the Astor and Schermerhorn families. Others include former New York City mayors Fernando Wood and Abraham Oakey Hall. The graves of John James Audubon and Alfred Tennyson Dickens (the son of Charles Dickens) and real estate mogul Don Alonso Cushman are also in the cemetery. Local residents such a Richard F. Carman (who owned property south of the cemetery known as Carmansville) and the Paysons of Inwood have their final resting places here.

For further information on the Clement Clarke Moore Candlelight Commemoration and other events of the Church of the Intercession, located on Broadway and 155th Street, call 212-283-6200. For information on Trinity Cemetery call 212-602-0787 or 212-368-1600. For information concerning Trinity Parish, visit its Web site. General Theological Seminary is located at 175 Ninth Avenue and can be reached at 212-243-5150.