Residents rally to save a historic River Road chapel

A couple of miles south of the Sunshine Bridge along the winding River Road sits historic St. Mary’s Chapel, once a key house of worship for the communities of Union and Convent.

Built in 1875, the towering cypress chapel welcomed congregants in the eastern part of St. James Parish until it officially closed in 1998. Peeling paint and a leaking roof define it today, but peer inside and its easy elegance emerges.

“It’s got some old significances that are sort of forgotten about today when you build new churches,” says Spencer Chauvin, whose great-great-great-grandfather erected the chapel. Chauvin lives next door on land that has been in his family for generations.

St. Mary’s was built ad orientem, Chauvin says, or facing east, the traditional Catholic building practice that positioned the congregation in the direction of the sunrise, symbolizing Christ’s return. Priests also used to face east, with their backs to their congregations, which drove the need for a curved, recessed altar that amplified acoustics, another of St. Mary’s defining features. And then there are its detailed statues of Mary and Joseph, installed to the left and right of the altar, respectively.

Preserving these and other notable details of the River Road architectural gem is the current work of Chauvin and a small group of activists including Carmel Andermann Veron, who grew up in the area, and Jim Blanchard, a nationally known artist from Donaldsonville who specializes in architecturally accurate historic paintings.

Determined to save the Gothic Revival church, the team formed the Friends of St. Mary Chapel in 2021. So far, they’ve raised $158,000 and have begun the first phase of repairs. This month, the nonprofit is holding a benefit to raise additional funds to support the chapel’s continued restoration. They believe $800,000 will allow them to bring it back into use for weddings, funerals and other Catholic ceremonies.

While preservation is the goal, the Friends of St. Mary Chapel members say the 300-seat church would support local tourism by giving couples a convenient, charming option to wed on the historic River Road before holding their receptions at Houmas House, just four miles north.

Veron, whose great-great-great-grandfather Antoine Andermann built the first iteration of St. Mary’s in 1849, says one challenge has been spreading the word to the many former residents who have long since moved away.

“The population here is about 400,” says Veron, a Union native who lives on the Northshore. “Thirty years ago, it was about 5,000.”

But a chapel restored to its refined, rustic beauty, they say, could help breathe new life into this sleepy Mississippi River community situated between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

And it’s rare that St. Mary’s, a mostly wood structure, has survived as long as it has,
Chauvin says.

“It’s one of the last Gothic Revival timber-frame churches in the South,” he says. “When you think about how hurricanes and fire have taken out others, it’s pretty remarkable.”

Friends of St. Mary’s Chapel fundraiser

Oct. 9, 6-10 p.m.

The Cabin & Courtyard Events

5405 LA-44, Gonzales

stmarysgathering2026.auctria.events

This article was originally published in the October 2026 issue of 225 Magazine.