First Baptist Church, Hammonds Plains

First Baptist Church, Hammonds Plains

First Baptist Church, Hammonds Plains

Halifax Association

Nova Scotia

Halifax County

1839 Hammonds Plains Road

Active

Built circa 1900

The First Baptist Church of Hammonds Plains was originally established in 1833, with meetings taking place in the homes of parishioners for many years until the congregation could come together and build their own facility. The first pastor of the congregation was Rev. Richardson who arrived here in 1828. This congregation later joined the Baptist association in 1843. The first church structure was erected in 1843, located on the lands adjacent to where the structure built circa 1900 is situated. This church was designed in the Meeting House style, a common style among Baptists in early to mid-ninetieth century Atlantic Canada. This style is often characterized by its small and rather plain facility, with no steeple or Gothic embellishments. The front entrance was often on the gable end, with either two entrances one on the left and right sides of the front façade, one meant for the men and the other for women; or a centrally placed doorway. This meeting house was situated where the burying ground now is, on a one-acre plot donated in 1824 by Amos Melvin.

The building constructed circa 1900, was built further down the road, and is much bigger and more ornate than its predecessor. It has grown and changed since its construction. Originally the building had several Gothic and Romanesque architectural embellishments, the most eye-catching being ornate woodwork just below the peak. The front façade is broken into three bays: the outer bays each having a small Gothic arched window, the central bay hosting the entranceway, and two larger Gothic windows stacked on each other. A unique feature of this building is the ornate woodwork (no longer existing), and the way the roofline on the two outer bays faces forward rather than to the side like the rest of the Gable roof. This makes the central bay appear larger than it is and distracts from how short and wide the belltower is.

This building has since had a larger addition added to it on the back and altogether the facility contains a sanctuary, an office, two kitchen spaces, a large multipurpose hall, and a full-size gymnasium with basketball facilities. The belltower has been enclosed with vinyl siding, which also covers the exterior of the whole church.

Information provided by the church and “The Times of Arlington U.B.C. Vol 8. No. 9.”