The present day Christ Anglican Church is on the site of the original building of the same name which was designed by Loyalist Isaac Hildreth, holding its first service on Christmas Day, 1789 and being consecrated by Bishop Charles Inglis in 1790. The original structure was severely damaged by fire in March, 1873, rebuilt only to be destroyed by fire in 1971. The present church was built to somewhat emulate the original building of the late eighteenth century, though with a cupola style bell tower-steeple instead of the original square tower and steeple. The new building, designed by architect Anthony Halse of Tantallon, NS, was dedicated by the Archbishop of Nova Scotia, W.W. Davis on Wednesday, December 20th, 1972 — this being the 183rd year of the Parish of Shelburne.
The cemetery which surrounds the church would have been established even before the construction of the building, the oldest known headstone being that of Mary Harding, born 1732, who passed away October 26, 1788. There are several other eighteenth century stones in the cemetery and none after 1906.
Well short of the proper figure,
Find A Grave lists only 39 headstones, possibly a quarter or less of the actual total, almost all of which are the eighteenth and nineteenth century slab style stones.