February 25, 2026

By Deacon Kevin Mastellon
Contributing Writer

St. Peter’s Church in New Bremen is surrounded by graves. The parish church started burying former parishioners on the grounds soon after the Church was built in 1852. The parish was incorporated in 1869 to serve Catholics between Croghan and Lowville in Lewis County. The Church was located on Tilman Road. The nearest community is called New Bremen. It was originally known as Dayansville.

Construction of St. Peter’s was finished in 1892 with the addition of a steeple. By the time Monsignor Joseph Conroy became the third Bishop of Ogdensburg. St. Peter’s was listed as a mission of the parish in Croghan.

The Church is an oratory now. There was an occasional funeral Mass celebrated there. Annually in June the parishioners of St. Peter’s would join the pastor and parishioners of St. Stephen’s in Croghan to celebrate a patronal Mass at the Church dedicated to St. Peter.

Until February 9, 2026.

“It was two or three o’clock in the morning when someone drove by and noticed the flames coming out of the Church,” according to Father Donald Manfred, the pastor of St. Stephen’s in Croghan, the parish that includes St. Peter’s in New Bremen.

The Church building was destroyed by that fire.

St. Peter’s was one of the earliest constructed in what would become the Diocese of Ogdensburg.

A statue of St. Peter that stood at the front of the Church was salvaged. So were a holy water font and the Church bell.

“The firemen were very good about saving whatever they could,” Father Manfred said. Since the church was an oratory, the Tabernacle was empty. Hand-carved wooden statues of Mary and Joseph were lost.

No cause of the fire has been determined. “We have had a number of agencies investigating from Lewis and Jefferson Counties. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has been on site too,” Father Manfred said. “But they do not have a cause yet.”

“There was an oil tank in the basement of the building, and it had leaked. Just how much leaked out is still to be determined,” according to the pastor. “The tank has been removed, and the grounds will have to be dealt with before any additional work at the site.”

The North Country Catholic asked if the fire might have been set intentionally. Father Manfred told us, “I don’t think there is anything right now to even guess what might have happened.”

Reconstruction of the Church is not even a consideration according to Father Manfred. Consideration will be given to a memorial on the site, and an annual service to recall all the people who, over the years, called St. Peter’s home.

Deacon Peter Woolschlager grew up about a quarter mile down the road from the church. He celebrated his sacraments of initiation in St. Peter’s. The deacon is now a well-known musician and music teacher.

“I started there as an altar server but then, as I tell people, I was benched, the organ bench,” he said. “I played the organ at Mass and other liturgies until I was asked to move to St. Stephen’s when I was in high school.”

Deacon Woolschlager was ordained in 2021. He is now assigned to St. Stephen’s in Croghan and St. Francis Solanus in Harrisville.

One of the pictures that circulated after the fire was of the statue of St. Peter that survived the fire. The statue is in the foreground of the picture with the charred remains of the church in the rest of the scene.

St. Peter is holding the keys to the kingdom in his hand, reminding us, Deacon Peter said, “of what is most important.”

Father Manfred said it best, “It has been a devastating experience for people in the area. There are so many that remember family occasions, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals and so many people that remember their place of worship. It is not so much a loss of a building as a loss of a place that reminds people of their faith, the beginnings of their faith. That is the sad part of this whole thing.”