Older than Canada
Ellis Chapel, built in 1861, still hosts services, weddings
PUSLINCH TOWNSHIP — Modern life whizzes by on the 401, vehicles stopping only briefly at the Cambridge service centre before hopping back on the highway.
But just next door to the parking lot, Ellis Chapel is frozen in time.
The simple fieldstone church remains virtually unchanged since it was built in 1861 by the pioneers who settled Puslinch Township.
It’s been standing since before Canada became a nation, and it endured despite the growing and changing community that threatened its future.
Today the idyllic spot attracts weddings, worshippers and the occasional weary highway traveller who wanders over to the rustic chapel.
“There’s something very special about it,” said Marilyn Murray, one of the dedicated volunteers who serve as the church’s caretakers.
“For me, it’s just the feeling you get when you walk into the place. There’s something very calm about it.”
Ellis Chapel was built as a community effort, surrounding fields and forests supplying a lot of the building materials.
Much of the original church’s woodwork and fixtures remain, from the pine floor to the gothic windows to the oil lamps hanging from the ceiling. The organ was replaced with a more modern model for easier playing
The church served the Puslinch Lake community for decades, people walking down the dirt road to attend Sunday services. But the roads improved
and people started travelling to larger denominational churches in the nearby town of Hespeler to worship.
The rural church’s fate was uncertain, until it became home to a Sunday school for neighbouring children — keeping it a vibrant part of the community for another 50 years.
Then again the church fell victim to the winds of change.
“It had been closed up and abandoned in the mid-50s,” Murray said.
“It became less important to have a little church right in the centre of the community.”
The boarded up rural church was rediscovered in the early 1960s by a scout for the highways department checking out a new service centre location, and his interest sparked a restoration effort.
The revived Ellis Church reopened in 1963, and a provincial historic site plaque was erected on the property.
Murray got involved with the church in the late 1960s when her family lived nearby. Two of her children got married there, and she also married Ken Murray at the chapel 21 years ago and then got him involved as chapel steward. Although the couple now live in Guelph, “it still draws you back.”
People walk over from the service station and sit for a bit on one of the benches dotting the one-acre property, said board chair Brenda Law. The “quaintness and quiet” attracts people, which is why they keep the church open as much as possible during the week for unexpected visitors who happen by.
Wedding parties also love the naturally photogenic church.
“The setting is beautiful. It’s simple. It doesn’t require a great deal of decoration,” Murray said. “You can do nothing and it looks wonderful.”
Four services are hosted in the summer (the church is not heated, making it unsuitable for winter events). The next one is Aug. 13 at 2:30 p.m., celebrating the chapel’s 156th anniversary.
Free-will offerings and rental fees for weddings and other events go toward the church’s upkeep, which is overseen by the board.
Any gathering in the church — quite simply, a rectangular room about 30 by 40 feet — is intimate. The rows of wooden pews ideally seat about 100 people, Murray said.
“About 125, if they really know each other.”