Gathering The Faithful
By Ed Simmons, Jr.
cpreporter@lcs.net
It recently dawned on me that I'd greatly enjoy writing articles about the history of Caroline churches, all 27 or more of them, then compiling them in a book called Gathering The Faithful: A History of Country Churches in Caroline County, Virginia. The Lord has His mysterious ways, as they say.
Of course in Caroline it's easy to get bit by The Bug of Historical Curiosity. Contemporary historians like Herb Collins, Cleopatra Coleman, Bernard Collins, Mary Tod Haley Gray and Susan Sili have lit lamps illuminating the past that in turn have lit me. Carrying the torch too are the numerous history enthusiasts of the Caroline Historical Society, Historic Port Royal and the Caroline County Museum.
Caroline Progress editor Toni Stinson, who attends St. Mary of the Annunciation Catholic Church in Ladysmith with her husband Ben and their family, has given the book her blessing, suggesting a place for my church articles next to Rev. David Upshaw's column on the Religion Page. And publisher Bill Trimble has given permission to use the accumulated articles for my book. Now all I need do is get it done.
On Saturday afternoon, Herb Collins gave me an overview of his extensive history files, and at his suggestion I'm beginning with the oldest churches. This took me on Sunday morning to a lovely service at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Port Royal where Rev. Catherine Hicks is Deacon-in-Charge. Attending was Port Royal Mayor Nancy Long who in turn suggested I start with an even older church, the Port Royal Sunday School Union Church, called "Union Church" for short, once located on what is now called "The Sacred Lot" on Middle Street. Of Victorian vintage and beautiful, it was torn down in 1975.
The lot's preservation as a park, where there is now an historical marker, is the project of Cleo Coleman and Historic Port Royal. After the service I ventured a short ways to the historic "James Bowie House, 1740" and knocked on Cleo's door. Welcomed in, I learned that Phyllis Gouldman Carpenter of "Edmont," just up the hill, had a photograph of family members in 1938 at the door of the old long-gone Union Church (shown on this page). Still, what the entire church looked like remained a mystery. But it was Herb Collins who knew of an old Caroline Progress photograph that shows all the church. You'll see it in the next issue when I write about the history of the vanished Union Church of Port Royal.