#0109 "A Moody Winter at the Blue Church"

This is the famous Blue Church of the Church of England between Brockville and Prescott, Ontario in the middle of the winter of 1980-1981. Actually to be more precise, the church is 3 miles west of Prescott in the historic community of New Oswegatchie, Augusta Township, Grenville County. There are streets of stratocumulus giving virga, evident in the painting. The winds were from the northeast is advance of an approaching winter storm.

Prior to 1800 the location was part of the village plot laid out by the Government called the Village of "Augusta". The location had been used been used for burials for quite some time. One historian location a tombstone dated 1780 just after the American Revolution of 1776. A sign says that the cemetery was established in the 1780s. Empire Loyalists would have been fleeing the patriots.

In 1809, Anglicans of Augusta and Elizabethtown built a frame chapel at this location. The chapel was later called the "Blue Church" because of its colour. It served the parish until St. James in Maitland, was opened in 1826. The "Blue Church" was unconsecrated and rarely used for services. Without maintenance the building was in bad repair and partially burned. The original chapel was dismantled in 1840. The present small blue church was built in 1845. It was smaller than the first building and located a bit more towards the river than the first building.

This is one of the area's oldest cemeteries still in existence and is the final resting place of many original Loyalist inhabitants.

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