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Christ Church Episcopal and Trinity Lutheran Church
Our History and...

HISTORY

 

In 1866, there was no Episcopal Church in Sheffield, although missionary services had been held here in 1759.  Sheffield Episcopalians who wished to join in public worship had the choice of traveling either to Great Barrington or of attending the flourishing local Congregational or Methodist churches.

 

Two who regularly attended services in Great Barrington, while spending the summer months in Sheffield, were General John G. Barnard and his wife, Anna Eliza Barnard.  The rector approached Mrs. Barnard from St. James, asking if he would be welcome if he came to Sheffield for an afternoon service each Sunday. 

 

The following Sunday, June 10, 1866, a service was conducted in the former law office of General Barnard’s father, and the Episcopal Church in Sheffield was begun.  Later, while the office was transformed into a chapel, the group met in the Town Hall.  On October 4, the congregation organized itself formally under the name of “Christ Church, Sheffield”.

 

On Christmas Eve in 1868, the congregation moved into the new chapel; this first church was in use for forty-four years.  There followed some difficult years where the church had a hard time keeping open, and finally on October 6, 1912, the current church held its first service. By 1919, thanks to the constant efforts of the women of the church, the debt was paid, and the church was consecrated.  By 1924, the church felt it could end its reliance on annual help from the Diocese, and it became a fully self supporting parish.   In 1925, the Barnard sisters (daughters of General and Mrs. Barnard) gave the adjoining house and land to the church as a rectory.  It is still in use today.

 

In 1969, in a booklet, “Seeds in Good Ground”, detailing the church’s first 100 years, it is written “to dedicate ourselves to the work in which the succeeded – making Christ Church a light in this community and a servant of its needs:  calling people to be renewed in the joy and peace in which Christ comes to give.

 

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It had long been the dream of the parish to have an addition… a parish hall for our use and for use within the Sheffield community.  That came to fruition in 2001, when a new parish hall was built and dedicated to the greater glory of God.  This addition added a new kitchen and large meeting room, a new church office, a new entrance and made Christ Church handicapped accessible.  The dream came true.

 

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The Christ Church Meditation Garden, known as Grace Garden, was created in 1997 for the enjoyment of parishioners, community members and visitors.  Designed by noted landscape architect Harry Dodson, the small but carefully thought-over garden overlooks the Housatonic River floodplain.

 

The many facts of the garden’s design include:

 

  • A sanctified adjunct to Christ Church where services may be held.
  • A columbarium that serves as a final resting place for loved ones.
  • A place for Sunday-school children to visit and play.
  • A site for receptions and Church picnics.
  • A spot for special services such as the Blessing of the Animals.
  • A quiet spot for solitary meditation or a visit wit a friend.

 

A garden visitor is struck by the sense of quiet one feels on coming upon this glade of lovely trees and grasses.  Twenty-nine birches are planted with eight crab apples, which burst forth in a pink array each spring..

 

A ground cover of myrtle is interspersed with hay-scented fern around the benches and walkways.  Mixed in among the trees are viburnum, adding their color and fragrance to the setting.  Varieties of narcissus are planted near the rocks, which are scattered throughout the garden.

 

Plantings of a naturalized Virginia rose and native mountain laurels, lead from the garden to the marshland behind.  The over-all effect of this native planting is one of year-round pleasure… springtime color and fragrance, cool shade from the summer sun, bright color for a New England autumn and the stark silhouette of the birch branches throughout the winter.

 

All of this is framed by the columbarium wall, the stone for which was quarried in Sheffield by the grandson of the man who provided the stone for Christ Church in 1869.

 

The Vestry has designated an area of the garden as a columbarium for the burial of cremated remains.  The columbarium garden is intended to be a living, perpetual memorial to the Lord and to all those buried there.

 

More information on the columbarium is available from the Church office.

 

Since January, we have been a conjoined congretation with Trinity Lutheran Church.  More on this later.

180 Main Street, Sheffield, MA 01257
413-229-8811
Email: xchurch1@verizon.net