Monday, June 27, 2011

1824

The old St. Thomas Church was built between 1822 and 1824.



It bears the crest of Queen Victoria at the back of the sanctuary and still flies the English flag. The church served the congregation until Trinity Anglican was completed in 1877. This church still has box pews which would have been rented by families. Also, Paul (the historical rennovation painter) pointed out the Prisoners' Box at the front of the church where each week those imprisoned at the local courthouse a few blocks away would be brought to church in shackles, climb the ladder to the prisoners' box, the ladder removed and they were...in essence...captive to the worship service each week.(I have to wonder how many lives were reformed in this manner?)





The church's cemetery has several storied graves, including the wife of a rector thought to have been a witch. (Her stone turned black, and continues to turn black after being cleaned to this day. When we were there, it was black!)





1 comment:

McVal said...

Cool! and kind of creepy about the wife of the rector...