A Reformed, Evangelical, Presbyterian church, The Free Church of Scotland has been active since 1842, and active on Prince Edward Island essentially as long. The Birch Hill congregation is one of six extant on the Island. While the present church was built in 1880, there are headstones in the cemetery which date to the early 1840s, suggesting that an earlier church once occupied the site.
Though quite serviceable, the building is certainly nothing if not utilitarian in design. Now clad in vinyl siding, it has no embellishment or decoration to speak of. The stepped bell tower has a single Gothic vent opening on the front, double doors with a lancet transom with colored glass at its base and pronounced eaves at each of the two steps below the spire. The tower itself is set into the front gable end by about one quarter of its depth. Four windows down each side of the nave are Gothic arched, while the windows in the small vestry at the rear, apparently added later, are simple rectangles.
A very sad incident occurred at the church in April of 2015 when a
dead newborn, wrapped in a blanket, was found outside the church. To our knowledge its identity has not been ascertained.
Dating from 1843 but with its roots in the Reformation, The Free Church of Scotland owes its distinctive title to its historical struggle to remain free from state interference in its internal affairs. It is an Evangelical Presbyterian Church. It has close and active relations with many other Reformed churches of Jesus Christ throughout the world...
The Free Church has had an extensive history on Prince Edward Island with historical associations with the ministry of Rev. Donald MacDonald. An ordained minister from Perthshire, Scotland, came to the Island in 1826. He preached wherever opportunity presented itself – in private homes, barns and hillsides...
In the years since, the ministers and elders of these congregations endeavoured to uphold the everlasting gospel. However, following a series of church unions they became more or less isolated and as it was unsatisfactory to continue in such isolation eventually a link was established with the Free Church of Scotland. The church is Presbyterian in government and the congregations on Prince Edward Island, at present, form three pastoral charges united under one Presbytery. The next superior body is the Synod of North America.
From the PEI Free Church