The Emmanuel Anglican Church is exceptional for its simplicity, its position in the village of Portland and its age: being older than all other churches in the village.

The site of the church was a part of Alexander Campbell’s original 400 acres back in 1802. By 1848 William Homer Sherwood had purchased a portion of Campbell’s land. Sherwood decided not to settle the land since he and his wife already had a home on the west shore of Big Rideau Lake and operated a tannery business on Queen Street. It was not until 1861 that Sherwood and his wife donated a half-acre portion of that 1848 purchase to the Anglican Church Society. Construction was started and quickly completed by 1861 marking a definitive moment in the social history of the Portland community and its religious denominations. Additional finances were raised in 1868 to purchase more land around the church for a cemetery.

The Emmanuel Anglican Church follows the general style guide of the time. Most churches at this time were constructed in the Gothic Revival style, but the unique take on this tradition comes in the inclusion of the stone buttresses. The structure is built from cut stone, naturally finished, and set in broken courses. The facade is short and the roof is high gabled and metal-covered. Plain wooden trim can be seen on eaves and verges with a single-stacked stone chimney. The windows are narrow and pointed, capped with voussoirs, while the corners are trimmed with stone quoins. Not all of the windows have stained glass. Located on the facade, the steeple has long vents with a semi-circular head and one circular clover-shaped window. The church door is double-leafed, located at base of steeple. It is constructed from vertical wooden boards. Although the church is no longer in operation here, the legacy of this local landmark lives on.

The Emmanuel Anglican Church was renamed The Emmanuel Heritage Centre in 2021.