Calvin Presbyterian Church in Sunny Brae put up for sale

If you’ve driven out through Sunny Brae lately, you may have noticed a for sale sign in front of the Calvin Presbyterian Church in Sunny Brae.

The church officially ceased being a church following a decomissioning service on Dec. 11, 2022, but its real end came in September when Fiona severely damaged the structure.

“A lot of the shingles came off the top and then the water went right down through,” said Sharon MacDonald, who started attending the church when she got married and continued for more than 50 years. “The ceiling was coming down.”

The number of people who attended in recent years and services have been combined with neighbouring churches in Springville and St. Paul’s. Now they will just meet at those two churches

While MacDonald understands the reasoning, she said it’s still a sad loss for the community.

Howard Archibald is Clerk of Sessions for the area and said it’s never easy to close a church, but the storm made it their only option.

Because of the water damage he said mould had started to grow and he estimates fixing the roof alone would cost about $25,000.

Because insurance costs were high and the church was working on a small budget, they opted out of having insurance on the building.

“All they had was liability on it in case somebody got hurt in it,” Archibald explained.

Archibald said there has been some interest in the building since they posted it, so he’s optimistic it will find a new buyer who may be able to use it for something in the future.

According to historical information provided by Pictou County historian John Ashton construction on the Calvin Presbyterian Church started in 1854. It was completed in 1857, under the religious leadership of Rev. Duncan Blair. His pastoral duties included the other communities of Blue Mountain, Garden of Eden and Barney’s River. In the 1800s services would have been held in Gaelic and English.

Later the church was enlarged and could hold nearly 300 parishioners.

Kerosene wall lamps and hanging chandeliers were used until electricity was installed, Ashton stated.

Long wooden benches were the first seating arrangement and eventually, gated pews were introduced and purchased by families. The gates were removed in 1900.