Grace Episcopal Church, Trenton North Carolina
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In May, 1885, the Reverend Israel Harding of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Kinston, reported that he had officiated at two services in Trenton North Carolina, and that "there is a good prospect of building a church there." According to church records, the first of these services was held with four or five communicants on March 28th, 1885. In a remarkably short time, less than two months, the nucleus of a congregation was formed and a lot for the building of a church provided. L. P. Brogden and his wife, Laura, deeded part of town lot 5 to Bishop A. A. Watson and trustees, on May 18th, 1885. Bishop Watson laid the cornerstone of the church within a week of the transaction.
In the same year Bishop Watson participated in the first service held December 15th, in Grace Episcopal Church, Trenton, where "scarcely ten months before this … the service of our Church was heard for the first time." When Grace Church was consecrated June 12th, 1892, it had a congregation of about fifty souls.
This beautiful little church has been little altered since its construction, although a few minor repairs were made in 1966. It is distinguished by the particularly effective use of strict geometric massing in conjunction with the inherent verticality of board-and-batten walls and the repetition of scallop ornament.
Building Description
Grace Episcopal Church, a small rectangular building, derives its distinctive charm not only from its setting among large oaks hung with Spanish moss, but also from the special inventiveness of its form and detail. The board-and-batten structure, which rests on a low brick foundation, has a gable roof topped by a steeple. The south (main) gable end contains a central entrance flanked by triangular-headed windows with diamond-paned stained glass. The entrance contains a diagonally sheathed double door surmounted by a blind triangular arch. In the center of the gable is a triangular-headed louvered vent. These, like all the triangular-headed openings throughout the church, are accented by molded hoods with scalloped bargeboards.
The east and west sides are three bays long, with each bay marked by a triangular-headed window. The scallop design is repeated on the heavy cornice which returns on the gables. Below the cornice is a wide frieze board in the form of a corbel table. It has tiny arches that connect the tops of the battens, forming a continuous concave scallop motif. The north (rear) gable contains a central triangular-headed stained glass window.
Above the south gable is a square board-and-batten steeple that rises in three distinct stages. The simple lowest level forms a base for the second, which features a small triangular-headed louvered opening on each face. Both levels have scalloped cornices and friezes like those of the main roof. Above the second level is a slightly splayed pyramidal spire covered with imbricated shingles and topped by a wooden cross.
On the interior Grace Church is quite plain, exhibiting a simple center-aisle plan. Above a vertically sheathed wainscot the walls are finished with a wide band of horizontal sheathing below one of vertical sheathing. The coved ceiling is horizontally sheathed. The north (chancel) end features a single stained glass window above the altar, which is enclosed by a rounded rail supported by heavy turned balusters. To the left of the chancel in the northwest corner a curved, vertically sheathed partition forms the sacristy.
