Jun 19

Jun 19 Historic St. Barnabas opens doors

SNOW HILL — Continuing an annual tradition, St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Snow Hill opened its doors on Saturday morning for its summer service.

The June 15th celebration of Holy Eucharist commemorated the feast day of New Testament figure St. Barnabas. Rev. Tom Warren, rector of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Kinston, welcomed a congregation of about 28, calling the service “truly a community gift.”

Rev. Tom Warren greets Snow Hill resident Dinah Sylivant, right, as she leaves Saturday’s service at St. Barnabas. On the left is acolyte Anna Haddad. Submitted photo

The historic white wooden church sitting on a green hill near the center of town looks like a picturesque postcard. The churchyard filters dappled sunlight, and there’s usually a cool breeze to be found. The cemetery which surrounds the old building features mossy headstones with old Greene County names, and after the service, members of the congregation wandered among them, noting recent additions as well as nineteenth century graves.

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church was established as a congregation around 1880, but the cornerstone for the building wasn’t laid until 1884. The building was consecrated on April 23, 1893, by the first Bishop of the Diocese of East Carolina. Though it hasn’t served an active congregation in decades, it remains a mission under the Diocesan Bishop. Father Tom, who lived in Snow Hill through middle and high school, worked with his father Frank Warren to keep the building and grounds maintained.

Today, the church is opened for a special service each year on the Saturday nearest the Feast Day of St. Barnabas, and then once again in the fall. Each service follows the historic 1928 Book of Common Prayer liturgy. As visitors walked through the front door to shake Father Tom’s hand, one worshiper noted, “with the breeze flowing through these big open windows and the old hymns we sang, it took you back to another era when we didn’t move quite as fast as we do today.”