I have shared with you all that I would love to find an old house to be moved to our property and restore. This past week a new option opened up for me. A church.
Two different people let me know about a church for sale to be moved that is near our place in Coldspring, we have dubbed Providence Acres. One of my readers actually took the time to message me about the church. I loved that. Thank you for taking the time to connect with me the even round up the cell number of someone who could show me the church! Of course I had to see this place. Even better, thank you to my reader for coming over to meet us. Our door is always open to friends.
My Buddy, The Social Planner, did the leg work and hooked me up with the man who could show me the church, Mr. Eldridge, who grew up in the church, and lives on Eldrige Rd. Oh my goodness, the history of this community. This family has been in this area since Sam Houston lived here.
This is what the building looked like when I drove up.
Mr. Eldridge let me know that it was for sale to be moved for $2500, lock stock and barrel.
The church building, which has a cornerstone saying 1899 is just laying on the ground. A new building has been built and the old building is sitting where they need a parking lot.
The building is in amazingly good shape. Wood floors covered with carpet that appears to have protected them, wainscoting around the room is tongue and groove pine. The air conditioning system is fairly new and works great. There is some rot where the a.c. unit cover has caused the water to splash on the wood, but that was all I saw.
The building was added on to sometime in the distant past that added a front entrance/ offices and rear section that includes two small offices and restrooms.
You can see in the photo below how the thickness of the eaves change where the addition is for the front.
The back addition is wider than the front.
The rot is behind this welded unit.
In the not too distant past the windows have been changed out. I almost cried. The original windows were just laying on the ground behind the building rotting. They are too far gone to save, but I may try to get my hands on the wavy glass in the frames.
If you look at the picture below, you will see that the metal roof on the tallest part has a newer part on the front. Until recently there was a steeple and a bell but the bell was moved to the new church building and the steeple came down with the bell. I wonder why they made the addition roof lower than the original building?
I would love to have this church. It would make a beautiful wedding venue with a little love. The ceiling would need to be opened to the rafters, the rear section would need to come off and be rebuilt so that it would meet ADA requirements, the steeple would have to go back on, and I would love to see a beautiful window in the end of the building looking over our pond and barn.
The building would fit perfectly right here.
The hand built podium and tables are so cool.
The problem is that the building is 30 feet high. 3-0.
It would cost a fortune to have to have our electric company temporarily move the 19 electric lines that cross our highway and the 5 that cross JJ Lane.
I would love to save this piece of local history but my pockets just aren’t deep enough. My guess is that it would cost $15,000 just to move the building before electric, water, etc was set up. Then the remodeling would begin. I have dreamed about it, driven by it several times, and even counted the number of electric lines down FM 945 between the little community of Evergreen and JJ Lane. In my mind’s eye I can see exactly how it would look, and what an awesome venue it could become. It just isn’t in the cards. Sad days.
Mr. Eldrige let me know about a house that his family had that he thought could be moved. It was his grandmother’s house.
The house wasn’t in shape to be moved, and full of varmits, but I did buy an awesome screen door that I have plans for from this house.
It is going to be cool. I hope promise.
So, the journey continues. We are about to get busy getting our suburban home to sell so most of my upcoming posts will include decluttering, updating, home staging and landscaping. We are also VERY close to finishing the mudroom at Providence Acres. I hope, hope, hope we can get it finished this coming weekend. The live edge cedar seat is done, it is just a matter of getting the board and batten up, buying the cabinets and getting them installed, hanging hooks on the board and batten and getting the seat installed.
Thank you all for following along on our journey to turn our weekend spot into our forever home. I love hearing from you.
Blessings,
Karen