Greenwood Square Baptist Church, formerly Greenwood Square Meeting House

The history of the original Greenwood Square Meeting House goes back to the year 1858, when Abraham Spinney deeded a two-acre lot of land, upon which the Baptist and Methodist churches had met, for the construction of a meeting house for religious purposes. This meeting house served the congregation for 103 years. In 1961 the expansion of R.C.A.F. Station Greenwood made it necessary for the two congregations to find a new place of worship, as the land this church sat on was needed by the air force base. The sum that was received from the Department of National Defense made it possible to erect a new church. The Old Meeting House was torn down April 6th, 1962. It is unknown if any architectural or religious objects were salvaged from this building.

This building resembled an early style of church known as the meeting house style, a common style among Baptists in early to mid-nineteenthcentury Atlantic Canada. This style is often characterized by its small and rather plain facility, with no steeple, and 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 appeared to have had Gothic Revival architectural embellishments. Some of the most noteworthy are the three large pointed Gothic windows on either side of the building, and the two placed over each of the doorways on the front façade. A unique feature of this building, not found on any other meeting houses in Atlantic Canada, was the roofed porch on the gable end covering the

entranceways. This building had a steeply pitched roof and a medallion window set near the peak of the roof.

The building constructed in the 1960’s appears to be a mixture of styles, using some architectural features that were found on the original building, such as replica gothic windows. The main structure is two storeys with a medium pitched, four-sided roof. Additions appear to have been made on the original 1961 structure, such as an entranceway and ‘bump out’ which perhaps contained a stairway. The sanctuary space was located on the left side of the building with the Gothic windows. This building is no longer in use and the congregation has disbanded.

This church was formerly part of a five-point charge, including the Wilmot Baptist Church. The mother church of this congregation was the Tremont Baptist Church.

Information provided by Churches of Kings County Nova Scotia and Turning Point Baptist Church.