A Meeting House style building representative of mid nineteenth century and earlier churches, Renwick United was built in 1860-1864 as a Presbyterian Church. The church was named in honor of James Renwick, a seventeenth century Presbyterian martyr. While the church's sign indicates a construction year of 1864, the heritage plaque is dated 1860 and Historic Places Canada dates it as having been built in 1865. The church was designated a Cumberland County, Nova Scotia heritage property on May 9, 1990.
As did the majority of Presbyterian Churches in Canada, Renwick Presbyterian became a United Church on June 10, 1925, when Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists joined.
Relatively plain, with three Gothic arched windows on each side, the church is now clad in horizontal vinyl siding. There are two entry doors on the front and a third on the side, one of the front entrances being wheelchair accessible. Beside this entrance is mounted half of a millstone, with a plaque which reads:
"Moore Millstone 1840".
In the churchyard is its cemetery, containing at least 131 interments, according to Find A Grave. The earliest known was that of Ada Ella Sophronia Darragh, an infant born October of 1866, who passed away November 6, 1867, aged thirteen months. The cemetery appears to be in use as yet, as the latest listed interment occurred in 2014. Though there are 131 interments listed, there seem to be considerably fewer headstones in the cemetery.
Renwick United Church
DESCRIPTION OF HISTORIC PLACE
The Renwick United Church, built in 1865, is a modest, wooden, one-storey country church built in the form of the traditional meeting house. The church sits on its original site on a slightly raised hill near the main road in the rural farm area near Pugwash, Nova Scotia. There are no trees or bushes on the church grounds, and the church is plainly visible from any approach. The municipal designation includes the building and property, including the graveyard.
HERITAGE VALUE
Renwick United Church is valued for its association with the history of the area. Value also lies in its being an excellent example of a country church built in the Meeting House tradition with a few Gothic Revival and Classical Revival elements.
Many members of the church’s present-day congregation are direct descendants of the original founders and builders of the church. It was built as a Presbyterian Church named in honour of James Renwick, a seventeenth century Presbyterian martyr. In 1925 the congregation voted to join the United Church of Canada when the Council of Union Churches joined with other Canadian Methodists, Congregationalists and Presbyterian churches forming the United Church of Canada.
The church is representative of many rural, Protestant churches built in Cumberland County in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. It is a wooden, symmetrical, one-storey church with a medium-pitched roof and simple ornamentation. The symmetry characteristic of the meeting house building tradition is evident in the church’s two-bay façade and the three large windows that line each side of the boxy church. The most prominent feature of this simple, unadorned church is the Gothic Revival windows and doors with their pointed mock transoms.
CHARACTER-DEFINING ELEMENTS
General character-defining elements of the Renwick United Church include:
- original site, form and massing;
- one-storey wood construction;
- two wide-set entries in gable end;
- half-moon opening in front gable;
- traditional meeting house elements such as simple, symmetric form and little ornamentation;
- cemetery containing historic markers.
Character-defining Classical Revival elements of the Renwick United Church include:
- medium-pitch roof with return eaves;
- wide frieze under eave.
Character-defining Gothic Revival elements of the Renwick United Church include:
- pointed-arch windows;
- pointed-arch mock transoms with prominent drip moulding above both entries.
From Historic Places Canada