The second oldest Baptist church to have continuous worship in Nova Scotia, Shelburne Baptist was founded in 1783 by Black Loyalist David George. It was reorganized in 1795 and continues to hold services to this day.
When built, Shelburne Baptist sported the usual design embellishments for a wooden Gothic Revival church of 1874. Today, essentially all of the decorative elements are gone, whether by wind, rain or the hand of man. The church was built with no less than nine spires, one on each of the four corners of the tower, surrounding the taller central spire and one on each corner of the sanctuary. The top of the tower, beneath the belfry and spire, was given a series of long dentils or corbels (can't tell for certain from the old photo), while more dentils ran along under the eaves. All the smaller spires were set atop fluted, round pillars which continued to ground level. Throughout were contrasting paint colours to bring out the detail on the church. Alas, this is all a thing of the past, with only the majority of the round pillars to be seen, with fluting covered over - the rest of the church exposing not much more than vinyl siding to the weather. The lancet windows with hoods remain, as does the lancet transom (with hood) over the door, but contrasting paint is nowhere to be seen.
Consecrated on June 21, 1874, Shelburne Baptist will soon be coming up on its sesquicentennial. We think it would be great if the church were to somehow find the money between now and then to restore it to its 1874 appearance.
In the Autumn of 1782 an association was formed in New York for the purpose of establishing a settlement of Loyalists at Port Roseway. On April 12, 1783 Benjamin Marston and Charles Morris were sent to lay out the new town. On May 5, 1783 about three thousand people arrived in thirty ships to begin the permanent settlement of the town of Shelburne, so named by Governor Parr on July 22, 1783 in honour of the Earl of Shelburne. who was Prime Minister, 1782-83. For the next few years the town grew to a population of about 16,000 and became one of the largest communities in North America. In 1785, however, people began to move away, and when the Government rations were stopped in 1787, the place was quickly depopulated. It existed as a large fishing and trading village until 1907 when it was incorporated as a town with John Hood as the first Mayor.
The Anglican Christ Church, begun in 1783, was consecrated in 1790. St. John's Kirk was built in 1803-04 and was used until it was sold and moved to make way for the new Trinity United Presbyterian Church which was opened in February, 1891. A Methodist Church was begun in 1804. It was replaced by a new building erected in 1874-76 on the same site. A Nazrey church was opened on July 30, 1871 by the British Methodist Episcopal denomination.
A new Baptist Church was dedicated on June 21, 1874. St Thomas Roman Catholic Church was built in 1887 and enlarged in 1957. The Salvation Army citadel was built in 1908. The Pentecostal assembly erected a place of worship in 1964-65.
From the Nova Scotia Archives