Cavendish United Baptist Church
Title
Cavendish United Baptist Church
Church Name
Cavendish United Baptist Church
Church Association
Prince Edward Island Association
Province
Prince Edward Island
County
Queens County
Address
8824 Cavendish Road, Cavendish, PE
Status
Active
Date
Built 1902
Historical Information
During the winter of 1843 a group from Cavendish was organized into a Baptist church by Benjamin Scott. Among the charter members was the Hon. Jeremiah Simpson, a prominent member of the Provincial Legislature. From the Bedeque history we learned that he joined the church in 1826 when it was organized. The first organization lapsed after 1852; It was reconstituted in 1869. The history of the Cavendish Baptist Church is inseparably associated with three historical names: Clark, MacNeil, and Simpson. These were the first families to settle there. On July 14, 1869, the church was reconstituted with 22 members. The first minister was Reverend M.P. Freeman, who laboured here from 1864 to 1870. Jeremiah Simpson was the first deacon, and Arthur Simpson was the first clerk. The church building was on the Mayfield Road, about 1/2 mile from the Cavendish cemetery. This building served as the ‘Baptist Meeting House’ until the present house of worship was built in 1902. 75 persons were baptized in the first 26 years of its history.
The positioning of this Baptist church in the landscape is unique, unlike any other in PEI. It is the only Baptist church situated along the northern shores. The Cavendish Baptist Church is a prime example of the stylistic shift Baptist churches made from the symmetrical design of the meeting houses and gothic revival styles in the nineteenth century, to an unsymmetrical plan with side steeple and gothic detailing noticeable on the wood trim on the steeple and around the windows. The hooded dormers above the windows of the Cavendish Baptist Church are an architectural detail that did not appear frequently until the late part of the nineteenth century. Those found on this church are unique to this structure. This church perfectly depicts the balance and proportion that is rarely found in churches with an asymmetrical design. The steeple of the church has a small four-pointed crown, with a larger, main spire rising inside of them. This feature is unique to this structure and subtly rises just above of the peak of the roof.
The interior photograph attached is of the interior of the predecessor church that served this congregation until it was demolished in 1902.
Information provided by the church and Frank Sinnott, History of the Baptists of Prince Edward Island, 1974.
Interior photo courtesy of L.M. Montgomery Collection, University of Guelph Library.
The positioning of this Baptist church in the landscape is unique, unlike any other in PEI. It is the only Baptist church situated along the northern shores. The Cavendish Baptist Church is a prime example of the stylistic shift Baptist churches made from the symmetrical design of the meeting houses and gothic revival styles in the nineteenth century, to an unsymmetrical plan with side steeple and gothic detailing noticeable on the wood trim on the steeple and around the windows. The hooded dormers above the windows of the Cavendish Baptist Church are an architectural detail that did not appear frequently until the late part of the nineteenth century. Those found on this church are unique to this structure. This church perfectly depicts the balance and proportion that is rarely found in churches with an asymmetrical design. The steeple of the church has a small four-pointed crown, with a larger, main spire rising inside of them. This feature is unique to this structure and subtly rises just above of the peak of the roof.
The interior photograph attached is of the interior of the predecessor church that served this congregation until it was demolished in 1902.
Information provided by the church and Frank Sinnott, History of the Baptists of Prince Edward Island, 1974.
Interior photo courtesy of L.M. Montgomery Collection, University of Guelph Library.
Files
Collection
Citation
“Cavendish United Baptist Church,” Atlantic Baptist Built Heritage Project , accessed April 28, 2024, https://atlanticbaptistheritage.omeka.net/items/show/279.