2019 MAY 20 —–
From Pier 21 I went to the Halifax Farmer’s Market. It was created by Royal Proclamation in 1750, the year after the founding of Halifax, “for the public and common benefit and use of the City of Halifax according to the true interest and meaning of the original grant.” For years this market sold produce and livestock delivered from farms in the Annapolis Valley and other local farms. It is the longest continuously running Market in North America. It proudly hosts 250 vendors – or so I was told. On that day there were about 20, and mostly crafts and food vendors. There was only one produce vendor. I bought some lunch from one of the vendors then headed off to St. Paul’s Anglican Church.
Halifax was a planned community, decreed by the British government to be its stronghold in the ongoing contest for possession of the North American continent. When Colonel Edward Cornwallis landed in June 1749, he immediately began clearing land and laying out the town site and fortifications. St. Paul’s Anglican Church was one of the first buildings to be built. It opened its doors in 1750. It is the oldest surviving Protestant Church in Canada and the oldest building in Halifax. It is a Canadian National Historic Site. Since it was the only place for worship for many years, other denominations would share this building for their services. There is also a crypt below the church.
There was a plaque commemorating St. Paul’s as starting Canada’s first Sunday school in 1783.
An elderly gentleman met me as I entered St. Paul’s and began to show me around. As we walked toward the Sanctuary he pointed out the Royal pew, used by Queen Victoria’s father in 1791, King George VI and Queen Mother Elizabeth in 1939, Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Edward in 1987. In the display case at the back of the church were a couple of pages torn out of the guest book with the signatures of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, and President Roosevelt.
He told me the story of two parishioners who had been on the Titanic when she sank. George Wright, who’s body was never found, was a significant businessman and philanthropist in Halifax. He supported women’s suffrage and the YMCA. He owned buildings and businesses across the street from the church. One building had a huge clock tower with a statue of St. Paul standing between the clocks. After he died, the new owners of the building took the clock tower down, citing that it was damaging the roof. The statue disappeared until someone spotted it in an antique shop. The church quickly gathered funds and had it brought to the church where it now stands in the foyer.
The other parishioner was Hilda Mary Slayter, who survived the Titanic sinking. She was on her way back from France with her $7000 wedding trousseau (worth 180,000 today). In her own words “one satin opal and pearl wedding dress with silver opal and mesh scarf, satin slippers, silk stockings and a hair bandeau,” (worth $4,000) and a “blue satin silver net dress, silver and blue scarf, silver tissue and osprey and Italian embroidered lace hand made blouses” (worth another $3,000). It all went down with the ship. She was one of the last people put into a lifeboat. She had layered herself with all the outer clothes that she could put on (probably because they were furs and other expensive items). She shared most of the clothes with others who did not have sufficient clothing to keep themselves warm. She probably saved lives from hypothermia. She also survived the Halifax explosion five years later. A few years later still, another ship that she had taken to England, sank on its return to New York. She was not on board. A few years later still, her house burned down. She managed to survive all this and died at the ripe age of 83.
Her family home is across the street from the church and is now used as the Parish House.
He told me that during the Halifax Explosion of 1917, doctors used the church as an emergency hospital. Bodies were also stacked around the nave. Only one stained glass window was broken, while most of the other windows were smashed. One window shattered to form the silhouette of a man’s head and shoulders.
There also remains a piece of wooden window frame, from another building, lodged into the wall of the vestibule above the door.
The door is actually a bronze memorial arch that records the names of the young men of St. Paul’s who died in WWI.
It was the only church considered safe to conduct a service the day following the explosion. All congregations used St. Paul’s to conduct funerals.
He said that most visitors come in July and August. These are mostly younger people who come in to take a quick picture of the silhouette broken window and the explosion relic in the wall, then hurry off. However, in the off seasons, such as May, June, September, and October, the visitors tend to be older and they spend more time looking about and taking in the history. I spent about an hour there.
From the church I made my way to Alexander Keith’s Brewery.
An Old Lady with a Backpack 
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