West Hall’s Harbour Baptist Church

On January 10, 1842, Elder Jacob B. Norton preached at home of Sylvanus Whitney. The first mention of a meetinghouse was in 1843. When the Regular and Free Baptists joined in 1905, the people of Hall’s Harbour repaired and repainted their church. In 1945, the church conducted its one hundredth anniversary of service in the community.

This church is a rather plain building and in 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 church has the entranceway centrally placed on the gable end, accessible through a protruding vestry that appears to be original to the building. On either side of the building there

are three rectangular windows, the shape and size of them mimicking the original windows. Set on the peak of the roof near the gable end is a small wooden saddleback steeple, which was likely a later addition to the structure, and contains a bell. Often when Baptist meeting houses are rather plain and lacking architectural embellishments, it demonstrates the amount of funds that the congregation had for the construction of the building.

Later, an addition was built onto the church on the left side, containing recreational space and a kitchen facility. Originally the exterior of the church would have been covered in clad boards of cedar shakes; however, now the building’s exterior walls are covered in white vinyl siding. The roof originally would have been covered with wood shingles as well and is now covered in grey asphalt shingles. This church has more classical architectural details, suggesting that it was constructed later in the nineteenth or early twentieth century. The fact that it was built in the meeting house style perhaps means it was the most affordable size and style for the congregation.

Surrounding the church is a cemetery, which has stones dating back to the mid nineteenth century and it still in use today (2022). The West Hall’s Harbour and East Hall’s Harbour Baptist Churches currently share a pastor under the Hall’s Harbour United Baptist Church pastorate.

Information provided by Churches of Kings County Nova Scotia and the church.