The Butter Church...

ACCORDING TO THOMAS WAGNER

In 1859 Father Rondeault arrived at Cowichan Bay. Services had been held in the bar of the John Bull Inn, but there was never a real church in the area. For the settlers religion was not a great issue, but with the organized church, religion among the natives was of vital importance. The original church was built on the top of Comiaken hill in 1870 by Father Rondeault. It was built of solid stone and was known for years as "the Stone Church", but as it was financed by the sale of butter from the church dairy herd it is better known as "The Butter Church". One of the cannon balls fired by the Trincomalee was used to break up the stones for the building.


Church politics lead to the abandonment of the building. In favour of the new St. Anne’s Church.

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not did a feature on it in the 30’s. They wrote that it was cursed and that the natives would not go near it. Total and utter crap! The bishop of the diocese simply declared that a new church would be built. St. Anne’s was constructed just up the road. A wood church, not a solid stone one, it burned to the ground shortly after construction. Rebuilt, it still stands in it’s present location. The old church soldiers on! The windows and doors of the stone church were taken to Saltspring Island were they remain in St. Paul’s Church. There were no wood pews, the congregation sat on the floor in those days.

It should be mentioned that the old church at one time was the only church in the area. Up until other communities built their own folks from as far away as what is now Shawnigan came for services.

Over the years a couple of attempts have been made to restore and maintain the old building. But, it remains as a solid, solitary reminder of the early days of Cowichan Bay.