Scotch Ridge Church in St. James Parish, Charlotte County,
located at the junction of routes 735 and 730 approximately 10 miles
north and west of St. Stephen.

The Church was built on a one acre lot deeded by John Morrison Sr. in 1826 and  was dedicated in 1831. The lot was part of a 315 acre grant to Morrison in 1812.The first permanent minister was the Reverend Peter McIntyre, a Gaelic speaking Presbyterian minister from Argyllshire.  As many of the inhabitants of Scotch and Pomeroy Ridges had emigrated from Assynt and Eddrachillis in Sutherlandshire in 1803 and arrived in St. Stephen in 1804 (see your listing for Scotch immigrants at St. Andrews in November 1804 which names the heads of the families who settled these communities) few were English speakers and the old language continued to be used; the last reference to the Gaelic language that I have is in a letter to the Free Church Missionary Record in Scotland in 1849, the minister of the Scotch Ridge Church, the Rev. Lewis Jack requested " I wish to send a Gaelic speaking minister to St. James.  There are few in my congregation who derive little or no benefit from the English service..."

I (Ralph Hannan, North Reading, MA) made the photograph some 7 or 8 years ago. The burial yard surrounds the church and the stones have been moderately well maintained, although several have been lost in the last 60 or so years. The caretakers have recently repositioned the stones in a horizontal position from the vertical.

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16 Jul 2000