Beechville Baptist Church celebrates 180 years

The historic Black community of Beechville, N.S., is honouring one of its most treasured landmarks this weekend.

The Beechville Baptist Church is marking the 180th anniversary of its completion.

"We can celebrate, we can be proud of our heritage. We can be proud of our founders," Rev. Lloyd Grant, who has been at the church for the past 13 years, told CBC Radio's Information Morning Halifax in an interview that aired Friday.

Beechville was first settled by Black refugees who escaped slavery in the United States during the War of 1812. The church was the first meeting place established there and continues to play an important role today.

"It's always been centrally important from the time I was born," Carolann Wright, an 11th-generation Beechville resident, told CBC News in an interview Friday.

"I always knew the church was one of those vital places that took care of us, made sure that we were here, and it was our first place of democracy as people of African descent to the issues of racism and oppression — that's important."

Wright said the church anchors the community. She said it was a place where people learned leadership skills.

"When there was nothing else for us, there was the church. It was our foundation, our first schools, our first folks who advocated for us during the issues of the Separate School Act and all those oppressive policies. The church was there and held us through that," she said.

Learning, love and motivation

The church is also a place that holds a lot of personal memories, like weddings and celebrations of life.

"As young folks, we had sock hops and put on skits and sewing classes ... it was just a central point for learning and love and motivating us to do well," Wright said.

Grant said the church has always been a beacon of light in the community, a gathering place, and a safe space.

The church sits near Lovett Lake and Grant said it served as the church's baptismal pool.

"This church is known for one of the great baptismal services that we had that was well over 50 some odd people who were baptized in the lake, and so that was truly one of the highlights of this church," Grant said.

Over the years, Beechville has seen more development, noted Grant. And while some of that development was encroaching on church land, Grant said progress has been made through meetings with developers and the municipality.

'Still Waters Run Deep'

"Now a lot of the boundaries are regained and stabilized ... the church was able to support the community leaders and to be able to be that beacon and be able to stand for justice," Grant said.

Grant said the theme of the anniversary celebration is "Still Waters Run Deep," which is a nod to the lake near the church.

To honour the church's legacy and the senior members of the community that kept it going, festivities will be held at the church on Saturday at 1 p.m. local time, which will include a bouncy castle for children, face painting, crafts, a display of church artifacts and lots of food. 

A special service will take place on Sunday at 11 a.m.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from features on anti-Black racism to success stories from within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.