Belfountain church retains Heritage status after completion of steeple restoration project

By Rob Paul

In Caledon there's a historical building located in Belfountain that has stood for over 130 years and falls under the Ontario Heritage Act, it's the Belfountain Village Church—a congregation that has existed for nearly two centuries.

Like any building that has stood as long as it has, work has to be done to maintain it, but unlike any regular old building, the work must be specific to keep its Heritage status.

After years of wanting to begin a restoration project on the steeple, the church finally was able to get to work.

For the church to retain its Heritage status, the project had to ensure that it stayed as close to what it looked like in the 1880s as possible, which was no small task according to Pastor Fred Dykes.

But thanks to a resilient church committee led by David Reed and the Heritage Society's Sally Drummond, it went off without a hitch.

“We started talking about doing this about five or six years ago, but quotes were such that we didn't have the money at the time, so gradually we'd look at it every year,” said Dykes. “Then this year Dave started looking at it.

“I joined the church board about a year ago (early 2020) and pretty much right away the board members were talking about the restoration of the steeple,” said Reed. “I took it upon myself with other board members and we worked together to renew the quote, and then I just said, ‘Let's get on with it.' We happened to have enough funds in the bank, and we agreed as a board to proceed.”

The Town of Caledon helped out on the project as well through one of its financial inactive programs: the Designated Heritage Property Grant Program. The program helps to preserve heritage and history in Caledon's community.

The grant helps fund conservation of properties that are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act like the Belfountain Village Church. Through the program the Town matches 50 per cent of eligible costs of renovation up to $4,000 to assist property owners with small to mid-size conservation projects that focus on the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing heritage attributes or the restoration of heritage attributes that would contribute to the cultural heritage value of the property.

“We've got a good relationship with the Town and with the Mayor (Allan Thompson) and the community has always supported us,” said Dykes.

The biggest factor in making sure the church was able to get the project done the right way was getting connected with the Heritage Society and Dykes knew he had a loyal member of the congregation that would be vital to that piece of the puzzle.

“One of our guys, Alf Dolan is on the board of the corporation, and he's had a good relationship with the Heritage Society,” Dykes said. “It was about five years ago when we were deemed Heritage and about four years ago, we painted the inside of the church and Heritage gave us some help at that time. Between Dave and I talking to Alf, he contacted them again about this project—they'd actually approved the steeple project four years ago in principle, but we didn't have the funds then.”

“They wanted it very specific,” said Reed. “It had to be the exact type of shingle used back in 1889—the same shape and material—and the colour scheme had to be the same as well.”

Though the project had its challenges, the group is appreciative that they got it done the right way and thankful for contractor Evan Whittington of C H I Construction Limited in his efforts, especially with the specific 1,000 shingles the steeple needed.

“It was a bit overwhelming at the beginning because there was a debate about whether we really need to copy the shingles exactly the way it was in 1889,” said Reed. “There were discussions of using more modern materials and cutting our costs by thousands of dollars, but it all came back to Heritage. If we wanted to truly be a Heritage building, then we have to bring it back to the way it was. There was a lot of debate internally and finally we said that we have to do it right and make sure we have the right materials and paint.

“So, we decided to stop talking about it and just get it done. The contractor was a great help and he had to hand-cut each shingle to make sure it was right. He started the process of cutting in mid-March and once he had them cut, he had to prime and paint both sides, it was a process in just all the prep work.” 

Keeping the Heritage status was always a goal despite the extra work that would go into the project says Dykes, because he knows just how important it is to uphold the history of the community.

“I think it was important to the community because it's a landmark in the community,” said Dykes. “From that aspect, it was important because we didn't want it changed and there's a lot of nostalgia there The church has been a part of Belfountain for 187 years. It's a beautiful church and we didn't want it to be bought or torn down and we want to continue to be there.”

For now, services are done online via Zoom every Sunday at 10 a.m., but Dykes has seen his effort in growing the church pay off in recent years and views the completion of the project as an exclamation point on the church's recent successes.

“It feels good that it's done,” Dykes said. “It's a mission of accomplishment in many ways because six years ago the congregation itself wasn't very big – we were down to just a few people – and they were even thinking of closing the church. I came on board in 2015 and we started building the congregation. Prior to COVID, we were averaging about 60 or so on a Sunday. Well, five years ago we were averaging about 10 to 15. Since COVID, our congregation has actually expanded to about 100 with people joining online. So, the congregation is growing, and the church is growing. 

“The restoration project is one of many [indicators] showing that the church is vibrant, and we give back by hosting many activities through the year. We host the annual Belfountain community organization fall fair every September, an end of the year picnic in June for the whole community, and we have a relationship with the school—we're the emergency spot for the school, so every year when they do a drill, we host a barbecue for them. I think we have a good relationship with the community and even though we didn't fundraise for this people did donate towards it. When we do get back into doing regular services after COVID, we'll do a dedication and celebration for the new steeple and the things we've accomplished in the past year.”