Please, take a seat: Pews from old N.B. church up for sale
If you've ever wanted to take home a little piece of New Brunswick history, now is your chance.
The pews at United Baptist Church in Harvey Station, N.B. are up for sale.
"Their realtor approached myself as the chair of Harvey Community Days and asked if we would be interested in selling off their pews or providing them to local organizations so that the community could benefit from the sale," said Dan Fletcher, chair of Harvey Community Days.
“If some of the benches could stay in the community that would be great from a historical perspective.”
Harvey Community Days raises thousands of dollars every year to give back to the community.
"We usually raise between $25,000 to $30,000 for community organizations, so things like school system, community projects, all the things within Harvey. This will just add and allow us to do even a little bit more and understandably with COVID, the challenges that there have been, we're keen to help our community in any way we can," he said.
With the pews emptied out, the church will be kept in the community’s family, with a local business taking over the space.
"It's really quite exciting, the fact that we're able to stay local and I'm sure the United Baptist Church is very happy that Heidi McLean, owner of a local business, she's bringing Hunter House here, which has bath products and other local made products. So, it's a great way to transition and keep everything within the community," Fletcher said.
Some pews have already sold, and Fletcher has heard some creative ideas for them.
"Some people just want them as a piece of history, other people are interested in having a bench for a family room, a cottage, businesses are also often interested,” he said.
“We have a local barn up in our community that's a wedding venue and this is obviously a great opportunity, so this is nice to see the different ways of something that was in a church for many years can be reused and revitalized.”
The United Baptist Church in Harvey Station will be holding its last service this Sunday.
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