Gilberts: Zion Church, the heart of Pinehurst

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Last October, Jim and I went to a plaque unveiling at the former Zion United Church at the corner of the Mull Road and Pinehurst Line. Despite a heavy downpour, which forced us all inside, it was a lovely experience, a great feeling of community that is all too rare these days.

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The church has been closed for a few years now, and it has been turned into a home. The owners graciously allowed everyone there that day into their home to the living room/kitchen area that had once been the main sanctuary. They also allowed the former congregation to erect a plaque outside the main door, which summarizes the main points of the history of that church. We had been invited by Bob McCully, as we had helped him find a company to manufacture the plaque. We also said a few words that day.

To prepare for that small speech, Mr. McCully gave us some things written over the years about the church and the area, which I promised also to turn into a column. Here, at long last, is that column.

The main document I have used was written by Rev. Alvin Armstrong. He wrote the centennial history of Blenheim, and also wrote The Story of Zion Community. I must say, Rev. Armstrong was one of the best writers of local history in our area. He was well versed and also wrote in a clear, very readable fashion. I urge you to look him up some time. This particular piece was never published, as far as I can tell.

As the title suggests, the community around this church was also known as Zion. That was its name, apparently, from a very early time. So why is it called Pinehurst today? Well, I’d say it was a typical government move. No real sense to it.

The place had a post office, briefly, in the early 1900s, which the government, in their wisdom, called Pinehurst, but that only lasted a few years.

Rev. Armstrong, who wrote this piece some time in the 1970s, says this, “In the 1975 edition of the (Canada) Gazatter, the community is designated as Pinehurst, a name never used and probably not even recognizable to many members of the community.”

Today, of course, the road is called Pinehurst Line, but both the name Zion and the traditional name for the road, the Creek Road, are buried in history. Pity.

Religious services in the area were originally provided by Methodist circuit riders but, by 1861, the census reported that the schoolhouse was also being used as a place of worship.

The first church was probably built in 1864, and it was of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, which was/is the American iteration of Methodism. The land was donated by Joseph Nash. In 1884, all four of the main branches of Methodism united to form the Methodist Church of Canada.

The original frame church of 1864 was replaced in 1899 by the current structure. The first church was bought by James Nash and turned into an implement shed. The architects of the lovely brick building, which is reminiscent of, if not actually, Richardsonian Romanesque in its appearance, were from Chatham, and the builders were John Patterson of Harwich and John McKay of Botany. That is the building that still stands today, now as a lovely private home.

One of the things I always noticed when Jim and I passed by the church was the cornerstone with T.K. Holmes’ name on it. He, of course, was the famous Chatham doctor and founder of the Kent Historical Society.

But actually there are three cornerstones on this church: the other two were laid by MP George Stevens, owner of the Stevens Hardware Store on King Street In Chatham, and uncle to the author Arthur Stringer, and the third by Mrs. W.R. Vance, wife of the minister of the time. They were all laid at a ceremony on June 29, 1899, which, in a sense, is a kind of bookend for the ceremony I described at the beginning of this article. Then, there must have been a real sense of possibility in the air; today, the ceremony was tinged with sadness because the gathering was the last of its kind at that place.

The church was actually opened six months later, on Sunday, Dec. 10, 1899. The Chatham Daily Planet issue of Dec. 14 had this to say about it: “Within, a pleasing effect is given by the circular arrangements of the seats with the pulpit platform and choir gallery in the corner opposite the door.” In appearance, the interior of the church was similar to that of the United Church building in Highgate, which is now the Mary Webb Centre, but not as big as that place, and without the skylight.

Throughout the 20th century, Zion Methodist and later, after the 1925 union, Zion United Church was the location for many weddings, funerals and baptisms, as well as church suppers, Christmas pageants (put on by the school across the road, until it was closed when schooling was centralized in the 1960s), and meetings of the United Church Women, the Canadian Girls in Training, the Missionary Society, the Epsworth League (a young peoples’ group), the Sunday School, etc. You can see why it was the hub of this community.

And that’s why it’s such a shame that this church, like so many others on rural corners and in small communities, is closed. Where once it was a centre of life for people who lived in those parts, today, it is simply a nice building that people pass on their way to get to Highway 401, or to go to Rondeau. While much is made about how social media has kept people in touch with each other during the recent pandemic, it pales in comparison with the type of human interaction that was provided by these small, rural churches.

At least this church building still stands, cared for by its owner. So many church buildings are lying derelict, or are torn down. As a country, we should not be letting this happen – in my opinion, it’s the responsibility of the federal government to ensure that this crucial community history is not lost.

That’s why that rainy October afternoon was so important. Now, when you pass by that church, you can stop and read the plaque, and get a bit of the sense of the community of Zion (never mind Pinehurst) in days gone by.

The Gilberts are award-winning historians with a passion for telling the stories of C-K’s fascinating past.