Johnson's focus for now is the northern settlement, the centerpiece of which is the church. Cobbled together with pride and salvaged lumber in 1937, it replaced a simpler, log building erected on the same site in 1893. Larry Cornelius, of Dania, was among the first group of students Johnson enlisted for the project. Every single board had to be measured. But the boards aren't uniform.
Every board is a different size and a different shape.
Despite the builders' limited supplies and their reliance on hand tools, the church, measuring 28 feet by 16 feet, exhibits classical, and even some sophisticated elements, notes Johnson. The altar area is elevated, and set back from an arch created out of short cuts of timber. The windows, three each on the north and south sides and one behind the altar, are painted, as if to give the feel of stained glass. Audrey Merrow has fond memories of sitting in the hand-hewn pews, and exchanging news and gossip in the front yard. Audrey and her late husband, George, were the last blacks to leave the island.