Description of Historic Place

The Chebogue Meeting House is an Italianate style church constructed in 1860 near to where the first New England Planter families settled. It is located in Rockville, Nova Scotia, a small community south of the town of Yarmouth. The heritage designation applies to the land and building.

Heritage Value

The Chebogue Meeting House is valued for its ties to the first English settlers who came to Yarmouth Township in 1761; for its history as the spiritual centre and the heart of the infant community in the early years of the Township; and for its association with Rev. Jonathan Scott. It is also valued for its intact Italianate architecture.

The first three New England Planter families to settle in Yarmouth Township in June of 1761 were those of Seled Landers, Ebenezer Ellis and Moses Perry, who were joined by seventeen other families by the first winter. There being no roads in those early days of settlement, all travel was on foot, horseback or by boat on the rivers and along the coastline. Most of those first families settled close to the Chebogue River, and probably for the sake of convenience, built their first house of worship near the river. Prior to the construction of the first meeting house in 1766 near the present site of the Chebogue Cemetery, down the road behind the church, religious services were held in private homes. The congregation outgrew their original church by 1820 when the second one was built. This building is the third meeting house constructed to serve the community in this area and was built in 1860, replacing the 1820 structure that stood on the same site. Because of its association with the first settlers, this church is intrinsic to the early history of Yarmouth.

The Rev. Jonathan Scott, who lived across the river in the community now called Melbourne, was an early preacher to the congregation at Chebogue, serving from 1768 until about 1793, when he and his family moved to Minot, Maine. He kept a record of much of the early life in the wilderness settlement, which is the only written early history of the area. His records include baptisms, deaths, lists of members of the church and his personal commentaries regarding the religious and social life in the general area. This record, as well as a personal journal, provides a first hand view of pioneer life in Nova Scotia as it was in the late eighteenth century.

The Chebogue Meeting House is also valued for its Italianate style of architecture, in which the symmetrical façade and the round-headed bays are typical. It is relatively unchanged from its 1860 appearance.

Source: Municipal Heritage Property files: Chebogue Meeting House; located at 400 Main Street, Yarmouth, NS.

Character-Defining Elements

The character defining elements of the Chebogue Meeting House include;

- location in the area of first New England Planter settlement and on the main post road;
- proximity to Chebogue River;
- proximity to the Chebogue Cemetery;

The character defining elements of the Italianate style of the Chebogue Meeting House include:

- medium pitched gable roof with broken front pediment;
- centred projecting tower;
- interior end-wall chimney;
- symmetrical façade;
- centred, slightly recessed paired entrance doors;
- round-headed paired windows;
- drip moulds on façade bays;
- double hung sash windows with six-over-six glazing;
- moulded window surrounds;
- corner pilasters, base- and frieze-boards;
- granite foundation;
- wood frame construction;
- shingle cladding.