According to the church's website (
visit link)
An Abbreviated History of the Episcopal Church in Cynthiana
The first presence of the Episcopal Church in Cynthiana was established in the spring of 1835 by Mr. N. N. Cowgill, who also began a school in the town. In 1837 a parish to be called St. Paul Church, Cynthiana, petitioned for union with the convention. The first in-church marriage on the church records was August 11, 1849, when the Rev. H. H. Reid married Ann to Mason.
The current historic building (The Church of the Advent) was built by a small group of dedicated Episcopalians. The Right Reverend
Benjamin Bosworth Smith, the first bishop of Kentucky, encouraged their decision by contributing the plan for the church. This plan
was from a model he had made of an English church that he had seen on a trip to England.
The English church that was so influential on Bishop Smodel was Saint Giles, Stoke-Poges, a church made famous by the poet Thomas Gray in his poem, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." The most eye-catching item in the interior is the altar. This oak altar was carved by women of the church in the 19th century. It is a tribute to
those women who loved the church so much. To the right of the altar on the wall is the Apostle's Creed and to the left, the Decalogue,
or Ten Commandments. This printing on the walls is a carry-over from the colonial churches of Virginia, where it was quite common.
The pipe organ also dates from the 19th century and has been pictured and written about in "Historic Organs of North America." Until 1955,
when an electric blower was added, it was hand pumped.
The building, using native stone of Harrison County, was constructed in 1854; the bell tower was completed in 1859. One can see the
change from uncoursed to coursed stone in the tower. Shortly afterward the church was used as a hospital for the casualties of the battles of the Civil War that occurred in and around Cynthiana.
Today, after more than 150 years of continuous use, the building is still solid, a tribute to those who designed and built it.
The Church was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and listed in 1978.