elizabethprata posted: " By Elizabeth Prata I headed up to a small town in rural north Georgia nestled at the foothills of the Blue Ridge. There is one part of an entire street designated as a National Historic District, containing three historic churches. I love looking at h"
I headed up to a small town in rural north Georgia nestled at the foothills of the Blue Ridge. There is one part of an entire street designated as a National Historic District, containing three historic churches. I love looking at historic buildings, especially churches.
This one is Canon Universalist, founded by John M. Bowers in 1885 and still an active church today. You can see more of its history and also photos of the interior (pretty!) at the wonderful website Historic Rural Churches of Georgia, here.
The Historic Churches of Canon district is comprised of three wood grained churches, Canon Baptist, Canon Universalist, and Canon Methodist, located within a two-acre area, on Broad Street in the center of the small town of Canon. The Baptist and Universalist Churches are located on the east side of Broad Street and the Methodist on the west side.
The predominant architectural character of the district is that of rural, plain-styled, turn-of-the-century vernacular churches. The Canon Baptist Church, constructed in 1896, is the oldest of the three churches: Its dominant architectural feature is the central projecting multi-sided tower with central window, two entrance portals, and multi-gable roof, and decorative chisel-cut shingles on the main facade gable roof. The interior of the church has original pews and pulpit furniture. A two-story addition has been added "to the rear of the building.
The Universalist Church located just south of the Baptist Church, is a rectangular building with a corner tower on the south side of the principal facade and a small projecting chancel on the rear facade. Significant architectural features include Gothic arched doors and windows with stained glass, and louvered windows. The interior has original pews, wainscoting, and pulpit furniture.
The Canon Methodist Church is a rectangular structure with gable roof, central tower with entrance portal, gable roof and spire, pointed arched stained-glass windows, and one story rear addition. Vinyl siding has recently been added over the original weatherboard siding. The interior of the church has original ceiling and new pews, choir, and pulpit furniture.
In terms of architecture, the district is important for its grouping of three turn of-the-century vernacular churches, located with'in a two-acre area of Broad Street in the center of Canon. Such a grouping of churches is relatively unusual in small Georgia towns. The wood-framed structures themselves are representative of small-town churches in rural areas in Georgia and the southeast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Sited on a slight rise of ground, they are also the largest and most architecturally imposing historic structures in the small town of Canon.
The district is significant in the area of communications for its association with the Universalist Herald, a religious publication of the Universalist-Unitarian Church that was purchased by John M. Bowers in 1896 from John C. Burruss of Notasulga, Alabama. The office of the Universalist Herald was moved to Canon where it continued as a religious weekly paper with a national distribution.
[The paper was still produced in Canon until 1991].
The Canon Methodist church was organized in 1905 and completed in 1907. It also is on the National Historic Register. It is very unusual to have three historic churches in one small (population is just over 800) rural village. (The other two are Canon Universalist and Canon Baptist). This information is from Historic Rural Churches of Georgia website. It's worth a visit to their site, the photos are terrific and there's lots more info.
Canon Baptist Church
The Universalist, Methodist, and Baptist churches all still have active congregations. The Baptist church though, meets in a newer building next door. The historical building has a wonderful architectural feature of a multi-gabled cupola, Victorian bell tower is architecturally unique. Canon Baptist was organized in 1895.
Vanishing Georgia has a bit of information on Canon Baptist Church here.
I'll be doing two more essays on my trip today, one on Canon GA itself, and another on the Poplar Springs Campground. I had a wonderful morning potting around the rural beauty of my area. Here are a few pics to carry you out:
Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They really are blue
WordPress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment