Chatham-Kent Day 1: A Fine Day for Churching!

Today marked the start of the Ontario Heritage Conference in Ridgetown, Ontario. En Route Malcolm and I decided to take in a couple of churches. First on the list was Highgate United Church. Amazingly we were able to get inside the church...and what a doozie! The sanctuary boasts a beautiful stained glass dome, arced seating and a huge pulpit platform. The real gem of the church is in the basement though - an immaculately preserved Akron Plan - complete with original folding doors!

In our opinion this is without a doubt the best preserved Akron Plan in Ontario (and perhaps in Canada)!

Next we stopped off at Morpeth United Church, 1877, which is a most unusual building with a very unexpected massing - quite a nice stop! Unfortunately we could not get inside this one, but we haven't given up yet - I am in the C-K area for the next 5 days and will keep trying - I bet it has an amazing open-timber ceiling in there...stay tuned for an update on that bet!

After taking in a few papers we felt a craving for a good church hop. Soon we were off to Dover where we came across St. Thomas Anglican Church, 1875, perhaps one of the cutest Anglican churches I've come across in Ontario! (Really I'm biased; I grew up down the street from the church...nostalgia, what a wonderful thing!)

Tomorrow I present and am scheduled to have approx. 50 people attend my session - hopefully all will go well and everyone will enjoy learning about Henry Langley and T.J. Rutley. Once the papers are over we'll be out searching for more C-K churches...check back in later for my Chatham-Kent posts...until then, enjoy the new building of the week!