Cape Negro Church

The Cape Negro Church is valued for its association with the history of the Methodist Church in the area, for its remaining original features, graveyard and its Gothic Revival architecture.

Methodism has had a long history in the Barrington area of Nova Scotia. Freeborn Garretson brought Methodism to the earliest settlers of Cape Negro in the late eighteenth century. Garretson was an American missionary and circuit preacher who came to Nova Scotia in 1784-1785 to convert residents. By 1804, the fledgling congregation had a log meeting house. In 1818 the chapel was replaced with a wood frame building on the same location as the current church. The 1818 church was replaced with the current building circa 1854. The church housed a significant number of books which provided the congregation with a small lending library. Presently the library remains, however books must be used on site.

The church was built in the Gothic Revival style, with a decorated steeple and arched windows throughout. Presently the steeple is unadorned, the arched window in the tower has either been removed or the arch has been covered with siding. The window behind the pulpit was replaced with a small octagonal one in the 1930s. Also in the 1930s significant changes were made to the interior, including enclosing the second-storey gallery with pressed tin.

The graveyard that surrounds the Cape Negro Church is one of the earliest in the area. It was established in 1770 as the Seaview Cemetery and at the time was a community cemetery, not owned by the church as it is presently. The site for the 1818 church was no doubt chosen to be in close proximity to the cemetery. Early graves were marked with fieldstones and identifying information was not recorded on them.