From Wednesday to Sunday -

How precious is this little church?

Sunday seemed like an appropriate day to post what was found on Wednesday.

There is nothing that makes my heart smile more than finding a well preserved old white clapboard church in the literal middle of nowhere.  

Nestled deep into the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina?  Even better!

Martha, knowing these back roads and scenic drives like the back of her hand, and feeling the same way I do –(that the best most relaxing drives are OFF of the highway!) took a turn out of Boone that I had never been on before. 

And time nearly stood still.

As we rounded a curve and she pulled into the parking lot, I found she had an ulterior motive in mind more than just the scenic drive back to West Jefferson all along. This friend is getting to know me very well!

“I thought you’d enjoy this...” She said as she put her little Subaru into park, turning off the ignition.

I was out of the car in a shot – oh you sweet little church!  

What story do you have to tell?

Old sign, but the siding looked newly painted!

I could hardly wait to get back to the land of cell service and do some googling on my own.  I knew we were between Boone and West Jefferson, but I had no idea which township this really was located in.

Further investigation let me know that we were actually in Todd, North Carolina.

Oh, those sweet red doors!

Can you imagine weddings and baptisms here back in the earlier days?

Beautiful from the back.

Those windows!

And a few headstones -

Margaret Dobbin Lemley.

Mary E Dobbin

A side note – do you see how the rocks are stacked under the church as foundation?  This is the same kind of foundation that is under Quiltville Inn.  Stacked rocks.  Amazing.  

They worked with what they had.

N.M. Dobbin

VERY INTERESTING!

Though not the names from the headstones above, evidently Annie Dobbin Miller (I used key words Dobbin, St Matthews church and Todd NC for searching) was at one time the ONLY member of the church left here.  She held all the positions and the church was kept open just for her.  Click it to enlarge it to read.  SO INTERESTING!

That doesn’t answer the questions on who the other Dobbin names were – but I know I have some mad genealogists in my readership, so please – if you find anything, post it it in the comments below.

And that brings us into modern day!

A local group called  Friends of St. Matthews Chapel is working to restore the historic church located in the Todd community. That explains the new paint, the new roof!

"We're just a group of people who feel passionate about the church," said organizer Helen Barnes-Rielly. "It's a need in the community, and we each feel strongly about it."

According to information from the group, St. Matthews Chapel was built in the early 20th century in a Gothic Revival architectural style.

For the past 20 years, the community struggled to get the Episcopal diocese to grant the town property access in hopes of restoring it. But it wasn’t until a retired Episcopal priest from Atlanta came to Todd two years ago that the efforts paid off.

Once they got the OK from the church, the board members advocating for Friends of St. Matthews Chapel, a non-profit 501c corporation got straight to work.

“Basically, it’s a gift to Friends of St. Matthews, but with the understanding that Friends of St. Matthews Chapel uses it for the community,” Tanner said. “So we want to preserve it, to restore it to some semblance of its historical state but then to make it useful for the community.”

Many possibilities are being discussed for the various uses of the building, including wedding ceremonies, community classes, concert or country dance venues, art shows and more. [source]

This makes me so happy!  I’m looking forward to long country drives out to Todd to attend a concert or event at St. Matthews.

This was my day – Friday, and Yesterday and Today and beyond!

For those who ordered String Frenzy when we released wave 6 of 500 copies on New Year’s Day – they are shipping in the order in which they came in, and there will be a large load hitting the post office tomorrow.  Luckily it was a beautiful sunny day – with temps reaching nearly 60 outside my window.

More than 200 orders have been processed between my arrival home and yesterday night when I called it quits for the day.

By 8pm I had gone as far as I could go – and I turned to this:

with Emmy Lou as my partner in quilt crime!

A little hand quilting and Poldark on Prime, anyone?

It’s getting there.

One stitch at a time!

In further news – Good Fortune progress and even completed tops are popping up all over in my Quiltville’s Open Studio group on Facebook! People have TOPS done already!!

Oh my goodness. Is this ever fun!

I can’t wait to see what the shares will be with our next Mystery Monday Link-Up tomorrow.  It’s going to blow us all away, I just know it!

And I want to thank everyone - especially my international peeps for understanding why I am no longer able to offer international shipping for physical orders (books & merchandise) due to the increase in postage and the customs and other hoops we have to jump through on both sides of any purchase.  

I am happy to keep the digital patterns available to any of my international customers.

Quiltville Quote of the Day!

Trip around the world quilt from my collection - 
found in Hampton Roads. VA many moons ago.

Kindness and compassion are always a practice because no one gets it perfect all the time -

But we keep on trying.

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!