Bethel Chapel (Meeting House), Middle Sackville
Title
Bethel Chapel (Meeting House), Middle Sackville
Creator
Avery Jackson
Source
Information provided by the Baptist Heritage Center, Moncton, New Brunswick
Church Name
Bethel Chapel (Meeting House), Middle Sackville
Church Association
Westmorland - Kent Association
Province
New Brunswick
County
Westmorland County
Address
Middle Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada
Status
Demolished
Date
Built 1842
Historical Information
The Bethel Chapel was built by what is known as the Second Baptist Church, Middle Sackville after a split occurred, which left the First Baptist Church, Middle Sackville church to continue to use the First Baptist Meeting House, Middle Sackville, until they completed the Beulah meeting house in 1849.
Rev. Samuel McCully (father of Jonathan McCully; a Father of Confederation) was ordained in Sackville (1829). For a period of time he served as pastor of the Middle Sackville congregation while continuing to assist Rev. Charles Tupper with the ministerial duties at First Baptist Church in Amherst, Nova Scotia. For the next 12 years the Amherst and Sackville Churches benefited from the preaching of both McCully and Tupper.
A deep division occurred in the church over a controversy that grew out of leadership decisions concerning the newly built parsonage. A number of members left the church and on March 9, 1839 the Second Church was organized. The meeting house they built was called Bethel Chapel (completed April 3, 1842). It was built on a site only a few yards from the old sanctuary known as the First Baptist Meeting House, Middle Sackville . The pews were 'sold' and brought in more than enough to pay the bills. At this time, it was common for a person or family to 'purchase' the right to sit in specific seats. These church pews had doors at the aisle end of the seats to further set apart the reserved seating from others who would attend. These pew doors were removed from the aisles in 1880 to establish Bethel as a 'free house' - churchgoers were free to sit wherever they desired. Some members took offense to this action and thereafter refused to attend church.
Rev. Joseph Crandall became Bethel's first pastor. Nearly fifty years later the First and Second Church congregations reunited. Upon completion of the construction of the current church building in 1905, Bethel Chapel was sold. It was used by the Campbell Carriage Factory as a warehouse and was eventually torn down in 1951.
This building was built in the Meeting House Style. The Meeting House style was typical of Baptist and Congregational congregations around this time frame in Atlantic Canada, due to its simplistic and rather quick-to-build design. The Meeting House style is characterized by a 1 ½ storey wood-frame construction, with either one or two entranceways located on the gable end. This building would have been covered in either wooden clad boards, or cedar shakes, and had a roof covered in wooden shingles. Heating sources during this time consisted of either a wood or coal burning stove, with illumination within the building coming from either whale oil or kerosene oil lamps.
Information provided by the Baptist Heritage Center, Crandall University, Moncton, New Brunswick.
Rev. Samuel McCully (father of Jonathan McCully; a Father of Confederation) was ordained in Sackville (1829). For a period of time he served as pastor of the Middle Sackville congregation while continuing to assist Rev. Charles Tupper with the ministerial duties at First Baptist Church in Amherst, Nova Scotia. For the next 12 years the Amherst and Sackville Churches benefited from the preaching of both McCully and Tupper.
A deep division occurred in the church over a controversy that grew out of leadership decisions concerning the newly built parsonage. A number of members left the church and on March 9, 1839 the Second Church was organized. The meeting house they built was called Bethel Chapel (completed April 3, 1842). It was built on a site only a few yards from the old sanctuary known as the First Baptist Meeting House, Middle Sackville . The pews were 'sold' and brought in more than enough to pay the bills. At this time, it was common for a person or family to 'purchase' the right to sit in specific seats. These church pews had doors at the aisle end of the seats to further set apart the reserved seating from others who would attend. These pew doors were removed from the aisles in 1880 to establish Bethel as a 'free house' - churchgoers were free to sit wherever they desired. Some members took offense to this action and thereafter refused to attend church.
Rev. Joseph Crandall became Bethel's first pastor. Nearly fifty years later the First and Second Church congregations reunited. Upon completion of the construction of the current church building in 1905, Bethel Chapel was sold. It was used by the Campbell Carriage Factory as a warehouse and was eventually torn down in 1951.
This building was built in the Meeting House Style. The Meeting House style was typical of Baptist and Congregational congregations around this time frame in Atlantic Canada, due to its simplistic and rather quick-to-build design. The Meeting House style is characterized by a 1 ½ storey wood-frame construction, with either one or two entranceways located on the gable end. This building would have been covered in either wooden clad boards, or cedar shakes, and had a roof covered in wooden shingles. Heating sources during this time consisted of either a wood or coal burning stove, with illumination within the building coming from either whale oil or kerosene oil lamps.
Information provided by the Baptist Heritage Center, Crandall University, Moncton, New Brunswick.
Files
Collection
Citation
Avery Jackson, “Bethel Chapel (Meeting House), Middle Sackville,” Atlantic Baptist Built Heritage Project , accessed May 3, 2024, https://atlanticbaptistheritage.omeka.net/items/show/476.