The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-04-22

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/ looking forth to a wide white sea.
The church itself, little wooden chapel
with belfry top. withdraws shyly among
the trees far back from the much Travelled
road the old ''Tennally pike that runs
! from Georgetown TO Rockville and which
/ for nearly two centuries has been the
main highway of that section. The little
church could barely be seen IN the brood
ing shadows but for the faint glisten and
simmer Of color that quivers red and
gold under the arch of the windows SOM
bre and plain It is, stained a dull dark
tone of red. and deeply hooded under a
sweep and dip of steep shinged roof
There is about It that sweet quality rarely
/ found IN church or home that touches
to the heart and once known even but
| slightly is always loved and often
thought upon
The ground ON which It stands was own
ed in the early part of 1900 by a devout
member of the Church or England, Mr.
Joseph Nourse, one Of the officials Of
President Nashingtons administration,
the first registrar of the treasury.
1t was by him the place was named In
honor of the proto-martyr of Great
Britain. and then, too, at that time, bond
being hardly severed, the English st.
Adams. that ancient hill town of Hert-
fordshre. few miles northwest of Lon
don. with its church and abbey and rec
ords of Verulam and Iona and all the
old treasured history, not SO pale in MEM
DRY as now, brought sense of home TO the
alienated English hearts. So the hill was
named in hope that a church might
some time be there, and 1t was conse-
Grated for many years with meditation
and prayer For forty years 1t was no
more than name and silent grove. Mr..
Nourse expressed the wish that 1t should
never be sold unless for some purpose
connected with the church. At length 1t
vas purchased for a church school for
boys, st. Johns Institute, and this
reached to some measure of success I'M
der dictatorship of the Rev. Anthony Ten
Brock in 1871 A chapel was at the same
time fitted up in the second story. and In
this upper room" the first services held
for the church folk of the neghborhood
aud among the most faithful in attend
ance We're the children and grandchildren
of Mr.. Joseph Nourse. Their home a
stone house. square-pillared and ivy-cov-
cred, known as the Highlands, one Of the
most beautiful and picturesque of the his
toric homes around Washington is not
three-quarters of a mile away from ST
Adams. Miss Phoebe Nourse, one of the
granddaughters, an invalid In the latter
part of her life, devoted almost her entire
time to work in behalf of the little church.
She died on March 10, 1850, and left
among her personal e:ects a little box in
scribed
ITO be given to Rev. Mr.. Ten Brock
as the beginning of a fund for a free
church at st. Alban" In the box were
$40 In gold, the earning of her own hands
and needle during her last year of Ill
ness.
With this plat on the Mount was
secured by Mr.. Ten Brock and a. parish
OTQanizad he 81
bans. One year later on the anniversary
of Miss Phoebe's death. the ground was
broken for the foundation of the church.
but not until 1855, under the ministry of
the Rev Mr.. Childs, was the building
completed and consecrated by Bishop
Whittingham on May "a, of that year In
the years that preceded the civil war
as well as the years that followed the
little church underwent a struggle for
bare existence But 1t was successfully
maintained Today, under the efficient
ministry of Rev. G. c. Bratenahl. who
has been rector for the past decade, St.
Adams has attained a solid footing and
a distinguished record.
Eight years ago when the site for the
cathedral was selected, and the founda-
ton for the cathedral school erected the
diocese of Washington purchased the
ground adjacent to the church. thirty
acres Of slope and summit for the ca
thedral close site some 400 feet above
the level of the city, and about the
same distance from the treasury as West
minister abbey is from the Bank of Eng
land, and here the peace cross was
raised, speaking in old Celtic tongue:
"Sith Sith- Slth-an-ainm-C hriosd- Peace!
Peace! Peace. In the name OF Christi
And here round about on the trees were
written the words: Cathedral Close Open
from Sunrise to Sunset"