Goin' to the Chapel

Finding the perfect location for a wedding ceremony has been more difficult than we expected. We both attended Drury College (now University), so Stone Chapel on the Drury campus seemed a logical choice. It's a beautiful building - the oldest stone building in Greene County. David has sweat through several weddings in the un-airconditioned building in summer, but we felt safe since we're planning a December wedding. So I called only to find out that Stone Chapel is undergoing major renovations beginning this summer. They do not anticipate its reopening until Spring 2008.

Several years ago, Drury purchased the church building that was home to Drury's oldest African-American church, Washington Avenue Baptist. In 2001, Drury moved the church 200 feet to make room for its new science center.

Presently, the church serves as Drury's Diversity Center. It's much smaller than Stone Chapel, but it is charming and warm. You can read more about the diversity center as well as see a virtual tour here. You can also read more about the history of Washington Avenue Baptist Church here.

Saturday night, David looked up churches that are on the Greene County Historic Register. We both like old buildings and are interested in local history, so this seemed a fitting way to find a church. We drove to three of them yesterday: Mt. Pisgah Methodist Church, Cave Springs Community Church, and Hood Methodist Church. After peaking in the windows at Cave Springs Community Church, David walked over to talk to the nearest neighbor who was picking up sticks in her yard. She was very helpful with information about the chuch, even suggesting that we go knock on the door of the pastor 2 blocks away. We opted not to interrupt his afternoon, but did note his name so that I can call today. More information about these three churches and other Greene County Registered Historical sites is available here.

For now the search continues, but it's been interesting to find and see these neat old buildings. -ee