St. Mary's Anglican Church in Auburn
to celebrate 225th anniversary
By Richard Cuthbertson, CBC News Posted: Aug 15, 2015 8:00 AM AT
This weekend, St. Mary's is celebrating its 225th anniversary and on Sunday a special service is being held that Archbishop Fred Hiltz, the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, will attend.
The church, a provincially-protected heritage site in Auburn, is one of the oldest in Nova Scotia and was the second Anglican church to be consecrated in British North America.
It also remains very much a place of worship, and services are held each Sunday for a small congregation.
It has survived where other churches were sold or knocked down.
There have been some expansions, but otherwise St. Mary's has undergone remarkably few alterations over two centuries. Much of it is still original, from the 12-inch thick support timbers, to the Palladian windows, to the prayer board with the Ten Commandments. The pews are still intact, including the one where Charles Inglis, the first bishop of Nova Scotia, sat.
Even the plaster remains, and has a story all its own. It's been told that the builders were running short on lime, so mussel shells were collected on a beach near Morden. These were crushed and used to supplement the plaster.
It has come close to destruction, however. In 1981 the steeple was struck by lightning and lit on fire.
Freda Small, a member of the congregation, was one of those who rushed to the scene. The flames were creeping down and the local fire department didn't have equipment that could reach high enough. But firefighters arrived from Kentville and saved the building.
Read more at CBC News