.3(0

HISTORY

., Of

WINTER ~

CHAPEL ETHODIST CHURCH

Notes on History of WintQrs Chapel Church

'his rough s etch VIas made on August 9, 1937, b:r H0T'l'T organ. The i forma­tion ,",as given him by the late rs. • I. Bolton, for manJ years a member of1

:linters Chapel.

The church h,.d its ebinning in the late 18bO'S when servic s ....iere held in v people's homes if a lJreac.tler was available. The Hardman family P< rt.ly. belonged to the :osp ct tethodist Church at Chamblee. Kev. •• Dodbe, the pastJr at Prospect, came hom wit the Hal'dnans at in+,ervals and held sevices under' a uush a_bolo'. Chri8tlan old people felt the grnat need of a church in the COID:"Jim­

ity, but the~e were no leaders at the time. J.

In the late 1860's or early 1870 l s Jeremiah fi t)ers came fr fineyWoods inf1

outh Georgia to live in the com ,unity. He wa, suffering frat tuberculosis, and had come to North Georgia for his healt'. He m ried Eliza eth Boring, \Ihose father, Thl rna.:; Boring, was a minister. 1, r. inters ettled on the del rvooc.all place. His he:alth improved, and he fa.l."'T'1ed the first year. The next year his health failed, and he moved to Norcross and far~ed no more.

• {inters saw the ne d of a churc -'. D. oring, his father-in-law, served as an agency to s.)ur im on and occasional ly pr .ached in the community. A Bapti~t preacher, Hev. lo~ten from Norcross, so preached occasionally.

In the s ring of the earl:, 1870' s idr. "Jintcrs announced that unciay 'chaol would be held in a b cu tiful bY' '.Ie at ni3 ho, ie on the del', oodall place. The pea le, hungr~ for the Bread of Life, C3J!le in gr ;;.t numbers. Small children Je:~e ta . t from a catecllism and the aIde:::' people from the Bible. When the wea­ther was favorable Slmday Sch00l wa~" held'~ very Sunday ill'te:'n on. Boys and girl s did no sit togethe_. They sat facing each other on slab be ches.

Ilr. {inters saw the interest the peo, 1,; had in a church, but the people ha no money after t elVar Between the S .Ates. One d.:W oar. \ inters said to some of the men: "Boys \i8 can go to the woods, Gut some logs, have them s awea, and hull us up a l.ittle CIiurch. 1I JiI'. J.,J •• Tilly sawed the lunber.

Mr. R ce and or. Mite ,ell gavo the 1~1d for the church and cemetery. ~he bush arbor on the Hardman place was near the ice ann lfttchell land line, so they gave the people ch'Jice of the bush arbor s.. t :Jr the site of the present church. The present site was chosen because it seemed to e more convenien~ to the largest n b r of people.

: or:( on the first church building was begun in Octobe~' 1871. Men, with ,illing hands, met a ... t .' the lunber had been placed n the sito. The women and children walked to the church and carried baskets of fa xl. for tlto men. T e chu{'ch was hulle in and covured necorl;' in a day. '.!.'he. lsed wide, c Jarse weather boarding.

ne was not a square corner in the churc.'. There ,; as no flo ring, but the people rel'e :>onxious for a church t 1at they"" el'B not primarily concerned with its appearance. There wau only a dirt floor for quo; te a while. f.r. l,linter bu Itt e

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steps to t e lit~le chapel. It had a front door and a side door. The bendhes 'ere slabs with .pegs in augur holes for legs. There were spuvters on the rindows and a small s)ap-box-lice stand for the preacher. In 1882, am Jones

the famous evangel'-st, vms respl)Dsible for winno"s 3J1n ceiling. ![hen he made a remark in one of his se~lT1ons, the c0:'1>;r8gation laughed, and he stopped sll,d enly and said, "Wish you 1d lau~h up some s i sh and ceilin:~." Then the people got busy and ceiled the church and put in windows. The floiring had been put in so:ne :Tears before. Soon they "at some little brass lamps which served as lights for ye;>rs. .11's. Bolton said this about then: "Very hard for the nreacher to speak wit smoke going up 'lis nostrils, but we endured it."

In this litl,le chapel the womensat ')n the left 3~cte and the men on the right side. fuenever ra:rer was announced, ;lil ChrL tians lmelt on both .c ees. They felt this was an obligation. It was the CUSj-al'l of t e ;;redcher to go to the ;mlpit when he first arrived and ;')ray 3ilently. l-1;vrms \Vere Ened. About 1902 the first musical instrument Has secured. The peon)_e sna)k hands freely and tal {Cd with each other freely.

Through the'influence of Dr. Borinr, the church entered the conference. The first conference preacher was the nev. George Ga:·nn~r. The.c eople were very hap"'y to have him work with them and 'forship with theM in the little chapel they had built out of their grpR.t love of G d. ,llnclay Sc:ho0l continued under the leadeRship of 1.-1'. '1:inters.

The church hact nine members at the beginninV,= l:r. :L'1cl Urs. ,Jerel'liah ~inters,

Hr. and Hrs. E.C. Hardnan, Hr. and ,IT". Johnny ".farr~, t s. Susan Cobb, rs. C.H. Woodall and 1, rs. Ki tura -ToJl1ack. ,. At the earl" reviv;lis there was shouting. They had twilight g_ ove prayer meetings bofore the evenine servic~. The men met in ne place and the WOJl1en met in another. leader was app~inted for each g oup. There were talks, testi onies and r Cl:fI:~ r s •

The.follom.:J'l", poen- ras written-~oL' this history of . i!lters Chapel by rs. Hary Johnson Blackburn, po t and author, who lived in the cOl'lmunit~r for several years and viho will be rCr.1embered for her ::'1eadingu at the an'mal Children t s Day serv.:..ces.

1"01' \ inte""s Chapel

'There's 11. little whi-ljc church on the brolT of the hill In the sh<,1(le of the tre"s whe:::-e ev tion dot~ fill

'Ene hearts of the young as well as the old \fuo meet h~re to worshi in the God Shepherd's fold.

There they pray an they sing ti1eir prai3eG~0 God; There their loved ones rest 'neath the sacred sod.

There t ey car y their j0yS And t eir ~rief burdened load To the lit-jle "hite church Uy the s~_de of the road •

. or Man7 a ~Te ar through the starn an(l +,hro11.,h d,couth This little white church in the heart of the South

HaG comforted nany a weary-worn so111 '/hose Christian endeavor sou t a trne goal.

'Ie earnes-t:.l:' pray thp..t it be thl:l Lord 1 swill To ~)reserve the little c lU1ch 0n the brow of the hllL

!ary J ohns')~1 Blackburn