NEW ROLE TO PLAY
Former Stewiacke church is resurrected as Trinity Airbnb
A former church in Stewiacke has been given a new lease on life, having been renovated to become The Trinity Airbnb. While it should prove popular with visitors, it maintains many of its striking attributes.
TRURO, N.S. – Michael Keen looks up in wonder at the dark wooden roof of his old church.
It took him and Jim Ferguson more than a year to convert the Holy Trinity Anglican Church into a tasteful and spacious Airbnb apartment. It now boasts a large couch, widescreen TV, new flooring, fully-equipped kitchen where the choir once sang and a double bed. It was presented to the public for the first time on Dec. 14.
“I went to Sunday school here, I stood at the front, I’d always play the part of shepherd in the Christmas plays,” Keen recalled. “Of course, I have mixed feelings about this, but I’m glad I didn’t see the church get torn down. Its purpose has changed, but it’s still a beautiful building.”
Ferguson, who now owns the church building, brought in Keen to convert the structure into a place people could stay while visiting Stewiacke. He hopes to attract tourists from across the region and elsewhere to stay with The Trinity
Airbnb, located at 58 Riverside Ave. in Stewiacke.
Starting in November 2018, the pair took our the pews and organ, but tried to stay as faithful to the original building as possible. The biggest interior change was putting in a bathroom inside the congregation hall and a loft level is also planned.
Two stained-glass windows on the walls were kept, but they required insulation and back lighting. A third stained-glass window lights up the kitchen area.
Keen and Ferguson kept the old wood-paneled interior walls as they were. Only the very bottom section was repainted.
“It’s been a pleasure and an honour to work on it,” said Keen.
The idea to convert the church into a place to live was Ferguson’s. He was originally looking to create a home of his own in anything except a standard house. To this end, Ferguson also looked into converting barns, sheds and even shipping containers into an abode.
“About two months after buying the church I was sitting and having a glass of wine and thought ‘this would make a really cool Airbnb,’” said Ferguson.
Restoring the church helped him to feel part of Stewiacke, a community he moved to fairly recently.
Meantime, former congregant Leta Isenor enjoyed looking at a stained-glass window of Jesus, which brought back fond memories.
“It’s surreal,” she said of the new Airbnb. “There were weddings and funerals in here. My mom was part of the congregation; she passed away 30 years ago. It all happened here.”
In its heyday, Holy Trinity Anglican Church’s congregation had about 100 members. Keen said the pews were always full when he attended as a child.
But the congregation had only 12 members when the church closed down four years ago.