The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1921-05-20
EpISCOpALlANSi
MAKE PILGRIMAGE
ST JOHNS CHURCH
ALL DAY SERVICE CONDUCTED
TOMORROW AT HISTORICAL
OLD CHURCH AT ASHWooD.
BISHOP TROY BEATTY SPEAKER
Pageant VIII Be Given by CHILDREN
of One Of the Church schools.
Tomb Of Bishop James otey VIII Be
Visited. sy ,.,.t rtt..
(From SATURDAYS Daily Herald)

(From Saturdays Daily Herald)
Episcopalians from throughout Mid.
die Tennesses, with several expected
from the churches at Nashville,
| Clarksvilley Franklin and Mt. Pleas.
ant, will make their annual pilgrim
age to historic ST. Johns church at
Ashwood where an all day service will
be conducted.
The service of the Holy Communion
/ will be conducted by the Rt Rev.
Troy Beatty, Bishop of the Diocese of
| Tennessee. At noon basket dinner
will be served and in the afternoon a
I pageant will be held, after which the
tonah OF the first Episcopal bishop of
Tennessee, the Rt. Rev. James H,
/ Otey will be visited,
Below is little historical data con.
corning the church.
st. Johns Protestant Episcopal
church wass erected about 1897 and
dedicated by Bishop Leonidas Polk in
1910. 1t was built by Bishop Leoni-
das Polk, Lucius J.. PolkJ George W.
Polk, Rufus X. Polk, William j. Polk
and Andrew Polk A.
The church building stands upon a
six acre tract given by the Folks, and
is of the simple gothic architecture
and is replica of st. Luke's Epis-
copal church in Virginia, which is the
Oldest English church in America hay
ing been built in 1852. af
The brick used in the building were
made by slaves of the Polk family
from the soil adjoining the church,
and the altar from lumber OBJ.
tanned from large cherry tree which
stood near where the church now
stands. Bishop Leonidas Polk was
the first rector. III.
The records of the church were de.
stroyed in the fire which burned Ash
wood hall.
But we know that Rev Chas. Fran
els Collins succeeded Bishop Polk as
rector; that Rev. e. Harrison Cries.
sy was rector in 1850 (this was the
year when Rey. Thos. Wheat institut-
ed the weekly. offertoryrr7an unpopu7
lar innovation") Rev. Mr.. Hilebrand
was rector during the SOS and after
the war Rev. Richard N. Newell a
learned man, with q. rich and mellow
ed;character, was rector from 1874 to
io9'' I'll Il tt@aS SO
Near the church Is the cemetery
where rest the remains of the Polk
family. = Rufus K Polk was the first
person inferred. There sleeps the re-
mains of the first bishop of the Epis-
cupal church in Tennessee, Rt. Rev.
James H. Otey. In this sacred and
hallowed dust rested for while the
remains -of the gallant soldier who
fell at the battle of Franklin, Brig
Gen. Hiram B. Cranberry, of Texas,
until his body was removed to his ma
| tive state Here also was deposited
the body OF the brave Gen. Pat Gle
burne, who fell in the same battle. A
few days before the battle was fought
in marching by this place, he was so
struck with its quiet beauty that he
| expressed desire to be buried there.
if he should fall His wish was graft
fed, but afterwards the people of Ar
kansas could not rest satisfied until
the body of their favorite son was re.
moved home.
ITO the left of the road stands the
deserted old church, in all its sacred
sweetness and so it remains amid it's
venerable trees and sacred dead,
kneeling among it's evergreens in per-
pctual communion with Coda sacred
altar in the wilderness, an ark of the
past, undesecrated by the. touch of
the unholy hand of the present" =
H. @T