Canada Guide
The Maritime Provinces
St Paul's Church
Address: Southern edge of the Grand Parade
Opening time: Mon– Fri 9am–4.30pm
Price: Free
The southern edge of the Grand Parade borders the handsome St Paul's Church, whose chunky cupola and simple timber frame date from 1750, making it both the oldest building in town and the first Protestant church in Canada. Inside, the church's simple symmetry – with balcony and sturdy pillars – is engaging, an unpretentious garrison church enlisting God to the British interest, its nave studded with memorial plaques to those steadfast Victorians who led Nova Scotia through good times and bad – like Sampson Salter Blowers, long-time chief justice who died in 1842 at the age of 100. Look out, also, for the piece of wood embedded in the plaster above the inner entrance doors, a remnant of the 1917 Halifax Explosion. Following the disaster the vestry was used as an emergency hospital and the bodies of hundreds of victims were laid in tiers around the walls.