This is an image-based documentation of places-of-worship in Canada. It was started by Jim Spurway in 2007. So far photographic images have been collected of the places of worship for all faiths in the Atlantic provinces, the majority by far being Christian churches of various denominations. In addition to images, profile information has also been collected.
Our information is based on what we have been able to discover and locate. There will be places missing, or information in error or incomplete. Your assistance in bringing this up to date would be greatly appreciated – please use the Contact Us page!
As of November 2021, Prince Edward island places have been documented and are available here on the website; New Brunswick and Nova Scotia images have been taken, and will soon be added. Some teasers have been included on the website at this time. Newfoundland images have mostly been taken, except or some peninsulas and Labrador. It is a work in progress.
Places of Worship are an integral part of our heritage, not only architecturally and spiritually but also as community assets. However, quite a few locations have been relocated, repurposed, or removed in the years since Jim started taking photographs. They were already closing in rapid numbers before the pandemic of covid-19 and this trend will likely accelerate. This is an ongoing quest to record this aspect of our heritage while it is still here.
The website
This website displays our progress, with a portfolio of images and the associated profiles of Place of Worship. It is in its early days and has limitations both from the information we have been able to gather, and the packaged software we have used to get up and running on a limited budget. We aspire that the website may provide a foundation where others can contribute with local knowledge and further photographic images to enrich and expand the reach of the project.
There are three main avenues for perusing the details of this knowledgebase:
- Finding Profile Information: thumbnail image galleries sorted by community name (with further selection citeria available) with a link to the Place of Worship profile information;
- Geographic Search: a location centric search tool which portrays results in both list and map formats;
- Portfolio of Images: thumbnail images gallereries, sorted by community name (with further selection criteria available), with a link to the full image.
Your participation
We hope you enjoy searching through our galleries and documentation. If you know some of these Places of Worship and can elaborate on their story, we would love to hear from you. If you have more images you can send us we will add them to the portfolio with an acknowledgement. Please connect with us using the Contact Us page. Your comments and suggestions will be appreciated.
You can also help with a financial contribution via our GoFundMe page, to help pay for the continuation of our efforts to document the Places of worship in Canada.