St. John's Anglican Church (Lunenburg)

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St. John's Anglican Church in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, was established in 1753. It was the town’s first church and the second Church of England building in what is now Nova Scotia, making it one of Canada’s oldest continuously used Protestant churches.

The church suffered serious fire damage on November 1, 2001, but was restored and re-dedicated on June 12, 2005.

The early congregation included Foreign Protestants, such as Lutheran Germans. The first missionary was Rev. Jean-Baptiste Moreau, who is buried in the crypt below the church.

Dettlieb Christopher Jessen donated a bell for the church, cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London (the same foundry that made Big Ben and the Liberty Bell). He also gave a silver paten and chalice in 1814. Bells in the tower were donated in 1902 by Lt. Col. Charles Edwin Kaulbach. Rev. Roger Aitken completed the rectory on Townsend Street around 1816. A stone monument to John Creighton Sr. was created by sculptor John Bacon, who also worked on monuments for St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.

The church is part of the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in the Anglican Church of Canada. In January 2019, the parish welcomed its first female rector, Rev. Dr. Laura Marie Piotrowicz.

St. John’s was built during the French and Indian War using wood salvaged from an older disassembled church. A historic note mentions wood from a prior structure also connected to the relocation of King’s Chapel in Boston.

During reconstruction, a set of painted stars inside the church drew international attention for their possible link to the night sky on the first Christmas as seen from Lunenburg.

In 2005, wood from a salvaged pew was donated to the Six String Nation project, with parts used in Voyageur, the guitar at the heart of the project.

There are 18 people buried in the crypt, including 7 who were under 17 years old.