Last week we had the opportunity to visit a little bit of the towns of Washington and Bath, NC. Due to uncontrollable circumstances, we didn't do much of the historic walking tour in Washington, but we did get to see the original church (and maybe one of the oldest in NC) in Bath. It's still being used as an Episcopal church, and the original building has not had any additions, though there are buildings around it that belong to the church. The church is open for tours (which means you walk in and look around). It was fascinating.
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These pew cushions reminded me of the church I grew up in.
One long red cushion that runs the length of the entire pew, and is not attached. |
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I've only seen glass bookcases in old churches. Here it was used to store Bibles and hymnbooks.
Beside, hanging off the window sill, was a basket holding coloring books and crayons for kids. |
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| The view from the front of the church. The original building of New Bethel Baptist Church here in Garner had a balcony. Prior to the civil war, it was where the slaves sat during church time. |
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| Love the stone floor. It was quite level. Most stone pavements aren't, making it difficult on wheelchairs. |
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and the balcony steps. I'm always amazed at how narrow staircases from the 1800s are.
In today's buildings, steps would be twice that width. |
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| View from the back of the church |
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Instead of having wooden pockets on the back (similar to the one holding the offering envelope) for hymnbooks, these pews had a shelf underneath as a place for hymnbooks. I think I like this a little better than on the back of the pew.
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The estuary in Washington and the Visitor's Center in Bath both had quilts that their local guilds had made that I would have loved to photograph, but both were in areas of the museum where you couldn't take pictures. Washington's was made in the Window Pane pattern, but inside each pane was an appliqued animal that you would see in the estuary. They did an outstanding job. In Bath, the centerpiece was patchwork but the outer borders had large appliques of women working, showing the history of the town. It was fascinating. Bath also had information on Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard the Pirate), and Bobby shared even more history about him on the way home that was horrifying. We didn't make it to the town of Auroro, but hope to go back sometime with my sister and brother-in-law. I'm thinking the person who wrote our "Day Trips from Raleigh" guide book moves at a much faster pace than we do.
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