St. John's "Stone" Church // Canada

Happy Saturday friends! I am excited to spend the next couple of weeks sharing with y'all some recap posts from the girls trip that I took four years ago through New England, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia (along with some new posts from this time that I never shared also!)! I hope that it encourages you to consider taking a road trip (in part or in whole depending on your circumstances) this fall to these beautiful places in the world.

After leaving St. Andrews By the Sea early in the morning on Monday, October 1st we headed out for Prince Edward Island. It is about a 4 and 1/2 hour drive from St. Andrews By the Sea to Prince Edward Island, so I had researched ahead of time a couple of stops along the way to break the drive up. One of the first stops was in St. John, about an hour north of St. Andrews By the Sea.

I had been in St. John a couple of years ago for a few hours (you can read about it HERE) and after we got stamps in our passports for visiting the city I realized it had been two years to the date since my last trip. It is amazing to think about how much has changed in the last two years... how much healing has taken place and all that God has done. It left me speechless to think about as I drove throughout the day.

We stopped in St. John so I could show Ali the famous city market and we arrived a few moments before it opened. I drove up the street to show her the beautiful stone church that is famous in St. John and to show her a bit of the city.

A bit of history about St. John. It is the largest city within the New Brunswick province and is the only city on the Bay of Fundy. St. John was discovered by the Europeans in the very early 1600s and the strategic location of the St. John River and the Bay of Fundy made this a very popular location for settlement. Due to this, St. John became a place of fighting and and sieges during the early years of its existence and throughout the 1600s. Eventually after the Naval Battle of St. John (between the French and English), England gained control of St. John.

In 1777, American forces gained brief control of St. John. Due to this a British major who was famous in the American Revolution (John Small) personally led soldiers in driving out the Americans. St. John remained a loyalist dominated city and eventually in 1785 was declared under royal charter to become the City of St. John. St. John is known as the first incorporated city in British North America (present-day Canada).

Historically, many of the people who fled to St. John during the American Revolution were Loyalist and were so strict with their beliefs that they would not let anyone who was not a Loyalist or a descendant of Loyalists practice any type of trade, sell goods, vote, or even fish in the harbor. This remained in effect until 1870.

What is particularly fascinating is that St. John became known as the "Loyalist City" and that historical influence remained in St. John even to this day as the streets, many buildings, many restaurants, and many historical sites play homage to the monarchy and to the British crown through their names.

Y'all know how much I love history and particularly old churches so I was so excited to go see this church again. St. John's Anglican Church (also known as the "stone church") was constructed in 1824 and was completed in 1826.

For those who are interested in architecture this Anglican church is one of the earliest examples of the Gothic Revival style in Canada which is known as the Romantic Gothic Revival style.

It was such a beautiful morning to see this beautiful old church. If you haven't made a stop to it in St. John's I definitely recommend it! You won't regret it!

If you are interested in reading more from the trip through New England, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. You can read all of the posts from the trip by clicking on the links below:

MAINE: