Church future is uncertain

Its rows of wooden pews stand in neat rows, adorned with Bibles and hymnals in each row. Its 100-year-old bell hangs in the steeple waiting to be rung to call parishioners in to pray. 

   Though this church has stood at the corner of East North Street and

North East Street since 1874, this white brick church is now silent most

Sundays. 

   The years of wear and tear as a house of worship have finally taken

their toll on the property that once housed one of the first cemeteries in

Hillsboro. 

   Inside its thick walls, light still streams through the perfect blue,

green, pink and yellow stained glass windows, but the future of this church

- one of the oldest in Highland County, is now uncertain. 

   Mary Brown Turner, an area philanthropist and Hillsboro City Council

member, who owns the structure and property, which is now adjacent to the

new Hillsboro Fire Station, said the structural integrity of the building is

not what is once was.

   Turner purchased the church building in 2002. It was once the home of A

Place for Grace Church. However the lack of parking, and difficulty in

accessing the building led the group to meet elsewhere beginning in September 2009.

    Drawn to "its beauty in its simplicity," and its history as one of the only

houses of worship for members of the black community in Hillsboro for

decades, Turner said it is "heartbreaking" to sit back and watch as the

church is forced to have its doors closed.

   "I purchased the building in the spring of 2002," Turner said. "Then,

there were no cracks, nothing that you could see or feel that was wrong with

the building. The basement was always dry."

   Then about eight months ago, Turner said that cracks began to form in

the front wall of the building and portions of it began to bow and buckle.

Window sills began to bend and pull away from the walls. The once-dry

basement now is water-damaged, with standing water filling the space after

it rains.

   "I am seeing level becoming bent, the dry basement becoming damp with

rain and the church losing its churchness," Turner said.

   Turner said that when she began to notice the changes she asked a

Mennonite construction worker to look at the building.

   "I was told that it would take at least $5,000 to rebuild the front

wall," she said. 

   She then had two different structural engineers in to look at the

basement and the church foundation ­ which is built on rough-hewn columns of

stone. Turner said she was told that it would be "five figures" to repair

the building.

   "My options now are to sell the building or appeal to the community,"

Turner said. "Does this building, built in 1874, is it important enough from

a historical standpoint to rebuild it?"

   Though the graveyard has long since been moved ­ according to Turner,

when families were asked decades ago to relocate those buried at the site to

other properties ­ she believes that some remains may still lay beneath the

church property.

   Turner said that an anonymous donor has put up $5,000 to start a fund to

help repair the church, and she is asking that anyone who cares about what

she calls a piece of Highland County heritage, to lend their support.

   "I can¹t help but think that I¹m not the only one who cares about this little building," Turner said. "Maybe I am, but I hope not."