“Soon after we came to a Methodist encampment. This was formed of three continuous lines, each occupying a side of a square and about one hundred feet in length. Each row was divided into six or ten cabins with partitions between. The height of the rows on the inner side of the enclosed area was…
Category: Churches in the Wildwood
Thanking God for the Sun, the Rain, and the Apple Seeds: Thanking God for Nature
During the month of September, I like to celebrate the birthday of a man who, centuries ago, carried his Bible and a sack of apple seeds across parts of the unsettled northeast and shared them there. That man’s name was John Chapman, but because he planted apple trees everywhere that he traveled, folks called him…
Petey the Circus Dog Who Loved My Grandma’s Church
My dad was a great storyteller, and most of his stories were about his childhood during the Great Depression. Largely because my grandfather was one of the few men who kept a job during the Depression, my dad’s childhood was colorful, and he could afford many things that most of the other kids could not….
Harvest Your Past Challenge – 31 Days of Free Writing Prompts to Help You Write Your Own Memoir
Some people know me as the author of the picture book The Donkey’s Song, The Donkey’s Song – A Picture Book Written by Jacki Kellum Illustrated by Sydney Hanson Published by Doubleday for Young Readers at Penguin Random House And some people know me as an artist, but a few people also know that I…
Listening for the Voice of God
A couple of weeks ago, I visited with two ladies who have been friends almost their entire lives. At various times, Estha Mae Coleman Parker and Virginia McKibben Vanlandingham lived and worshiped at the old country church at Pilgrims Rest in Yalobusha County, and now, both of them live only a couple of farms away…
Memory of an Old Country Revival in the Wildwood
Last week, I visited with Estha Mae and Porter Parker. They are dear, sweet people from Calhoun County, and they have lived near Pilgrims Rest Church and School almost all their lives. Because Mary Sue Stevens has known the Parkers for a long time, she took me to visit them. After we turned left on…
Finding the Spirit of God in a Forest Church – at Pilgrims Rest
This week, I have continued my search for an old place of worship that I have been carrying in my heart for many years, and in doing so, I discovered the Pilgrims Rest Church and Schoolhouse. It is important to note that in this area, many of the original church buildings are no longer standing…
My Church Journey Feeds My Soul
For the past week, Yalobusha County’s former circuit clerk and lifelong resident Mary Sue Stevens has taken me on a tour into her past—which, in some ways, was also a tour into my own past. For many years, I have been fascinated by old, white country churches, and as soon as I settled in Water…