Thursday, November 22, 2007
Christ Church, Dresden, Ontario
Dresden, Ontario is home to the provincial Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site. The museum is built on the site of the black settlement that fugitive slave and abolitionist Rev. Josiah Henson helped found in 1841. Rev. Thomas Hughes started his ministry in Dresden 1859. In May of the following year Bishop Benjamin Cronyn said of Rev. Hughes"Mr. Hughes is most usefully employed with every prospect of success at Dresden. I have the utmost confidence in Mr. Hughes. I anticipate that much good will result from his ministry among the fugitive slaves. He is a man of such sound sense and a true Christian spirit."
In 1867, Hughes' seven-year-old son laid the cornerstone of Christ Church with the church being finished in October 1868. .
Since 2002 Christ Church, Dresden has been part of the 6-point Parish of the Transfiguration. The rector is Rev. Stephen Demitroff with honourary assistant, Rev. Michelle Collins-Wongkee.
