– Articles by Debbie Hannam (with special thanks to Jean Sheridan, author, "The History of Centrelea United Baptist Church")

David Manners (1900-1998)

Who, you might ask is David Manners? A movie buff able to recollect back 70 years might remember him as a big Hollywood star.  Featured in over 36 feature films between 1930 and 1936 he co-starred with such stars as Katherine Hepburn, Lorette Young, Lucille Ball, and Marlon Brando to name a few.  When the Hollywood Walk of Stars was created, David manners was in the first list of 100 names to be enshrined forever in bronze stars along Hollywood Boulevard.

Born Rauff de Ryther Duan Acklom, in Halifax on April 30, 1900,  his family often vacationed in the rural community of Centrelea.   The Chadwicks (Rauff's aunt & uncle) owned a stately home in Centrelea and when he retired from acting, the now David Manners, turned to writing and used this home and it's community as a setting for his book "A Convenient Season". His book, rediscovered through the local historical society, depicts the life and people of Centrelea as seen through the eyes of a young man who journeys to Nova Scotia from the United States in search of himself.

David Manner's book "A Convenient Season" is owned by Blair Hannam of Centrelea and continues to circulate through the community and surrounding area.  The Chadwick home depicted in the novel still retains the elegance and decor of it's time and is presently owned by Francoise and Gontran Trottier. For additional information on David Manners, please visit .

Centrelea United Baptist Church

As early as the 1760's,  records show that cottage prayer meetings were held in the Rice home in Messinger Settlement.  This settlement later to be known as Centreville and  toward the turn of the century, Centrelea, was a pioneer force for the Baptist movement in Annapolis County.

The Baptist movement, officially organized in 1780, saw the ordination of Thomas Handley Chipman in 1782.  Only the second Baptist minister to be ordained in the Maritimes he was considered a New Light Congregationlists and became one of four ministers who met to promote a Baptist and Congregational Association.  His church in Centrelea, called First Annapolis, was one of the original churches of the Association of Baptist Churches of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, formed in 1800.

 By 1853, with land donated by Deacon James Messinger Sr., the Centrelea United Baptist Church  was erected and became a place of worship for families bearing such names as Messinger, Sheridan, Bruce, Lantz, Hall, Ewing, Brooks, Hutchinson, Piggot, Weatherbee and many others.

Over the course of time, a shift in the areas population, saw the work of this Centrelea Church expand towards Bridgetown (formally Hick's Ferry).  Presently Bridgetown is the pastorate's centre and the fellowship in Centrelea is a Baptist preaching station.  Services, under the direction of the Rev. George Neily, are held on alternate Sundays and various special services where a tiny community, rich in heritage, continues to worship in the home of their ancestors.