Hi All,
For those of you that may not know where the Brick Church Road is, it is located in North Fairfax -- To the left of it is what is called Windtop.
THE NORTH FAIRFAX METHODIST CHURCH
It is believed that this church was organized as early as 1800, though none of the original records now exist. The first pastor was probably a man named Crane. The Church building was brick and built in 1852 at a cost of $4,000. It was repaired and rededicated in 1872.
There is an interesting facet to the church's construction that should be mentioned. Church pews in those days were generally built in a box-like form, with straight backs and a door at each end. But the pews in this church had the luxury of "heating slots" set in the floor before them which could be opened or closed by those seated there. Heat would come up through the slots when open from a furnace or stove located under the sanctuary floor.
The North Fairfax Methodist Church had been unused for about ten years when it was sold to George Hersey, a plumber and contractor in St. Albans. It was completely torn down during 1921-22 and the bricks and lumber were used in building camps on the lake and homes in St. Albans. His son Richard who lived in St. Albans in the 1980s helped his father demolish the church.
The house has been identified as The H. T. Johnson home and actually looks very much like what used to be Darrell Ovitt's tenement house, just North of the farm now owned by Walter & Diane Berthiaume.
For a better idea of the location of the North Fairfax Methodist Church and the home of H. T. Johnson, below is the old 1857 Map of that area:
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