The Sacred Heart Church and Cemetery were established in the late 1800’s to accommodate the Irish Catholic population
who were employed on the railroads and large estates in Barrytown and the surrounding hamlets. Prior to a Catholic Church
in Barrytown, the residents of the area attended services across the river in Kingston and Saugerties. People would walk
across the frozen river in winter or cross by boat in other seasons, weather permitting. Walter V. Miller in "A Parish History"
tells of an old tale: "The account has it that, on one occasion, a boat and its occupants thereof narrowly missed playing the
leading role in a very tragic incident, this happening, strange as it may seem, played a very large part in establishing of the
first church at Barrytown instead of Red Hook." Apparently, some members of the Donaldson family of Edgewater were
on that boat. The Donaldson family donated the land for the church and cemetery at Barrytown. The laying of the church
corner stone was 1875. The first burial in the Cemetery was November 23, 1886.