Wednesday, January 9, 2013

PEI Tourism Promotes Rural Landscapes

     I find it amusing that our idyllic country views are used in tourism promotions and literature but when it comes to saving and preserving those views and buildings there's little help.  The view on this map today would be a hilly road with trees - the church was moved and the steeple removed.
     Here are a few photos I took of this beautiful little church at the corner of the New Glasgow Road and the Bungay Road in Wheatley River before it was decommissioned and moved in the mid-2000s.
 The beautiful Wheatley River United Church before removal from the site.
 
 The church had beautiful detailing especially the round windows in the tower.
     The church was decomissioned around 2004 and sold to the neighbour on the other corner and moved a few hundred feet to the other side of the neighbours hedge.  At the time the PEI United Church Council required that any decommissioned United Church be sold or demolished.  If sold the steeple had to be removed so it wouldn't be confused as being a church building.  At the time I was acting Chairman of the PEI Heritage Places Advisory Board and had a letter sent to the PEI United Church Council asking they reconsider this policy - our request was dismissed.  It was a bad decision for Island architecture.
 Below/Above: The vacant site where the church once stood.
 Below Photos: the relocated church without its steeple.
     A few who purchased decommisioned churches didn't follow through with this steeple removal policy, such as the Victoria-by-the-Sea United Church, now in private hands.   I assume the PEI United Church Council decided not to enforce its' policy.
Victoria United Church
Above: former Victoria United Church
cf. http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/image-image.aspx?id=5682#i1
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4 comments:

  1. Chris ReedJanuary 9, 2013 at 10:42 PM

    I always found it a tad hypocritical that they advertise PEI as a rural paradise, but what is rural has turned in to subdivisions, cottage plantations, or is almsot gleefully destroyed. Then again, I've found PEI and hypocrisy are familiar bedmates, especially when it comes to governmental affairs.

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  2. UnknownFebruary 21, 2013 at 11:23 AM

    Great to see the blogs of buildings,grandmother Wares lived close to this church.I bought the old school across the road in the seventies when they were selling the country schools off later sold when i went to Ontario. Thanks.

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    1. UnknownJune 21, 2016 at 5:28 PM

      I lived at the old Stevenson property on Bungay Rd, just above the school, which I attended. The church steps, I was acquainted with very well, as I waited for school to get out. The small slope in front of the church, was a great memory, I rode a tricycle, lost the peddles on the way down, crossed New Glasgow Rd. at speed, will always remember the fence in that ditch.Herman Zwanepol, Peterborough Ontario

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  3. Debbie MacleanOctober 14, 2023 at 8:31 PM

    I remember this church I think it's sad to see all the old churches are falling apart ..it would be nice to keep the old ones fixed I love the older churches. God bless 🙌 🙏

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