Wurtland —
The oldest church in Wurtland will soon reopen its doors. Rising once again in the center of town, the Wurtland Union Church and Meeting House along Wurtland Avenue is being put back together piece by piece and is slated for completion later this year.
Workers were installing new wooden siding to the building late last week, which when completed will look much as it did when it was constructed more than 160 years ago.
The church was disassembled in late 2009 after it was determined the original structure could not be saved. Although the roof, walls and foundation of the church were torn down, the original handmade wooden pews, lecturn, altar rail, bell and a handful of hymnals were saved, along with the church’s doors. Once the new building is complete, those relics will be put back in place.
Dr. Kim Harris, who has been spearheading the nonprofit organization overseeing and funding the rebuild, said the church is a “treasure” that embodies both the town’s history and the region’s cultural heritage.
“It’s certainly a labor of love,” she said of the more than four-year-long effort to fundraise for and rebuild the church. “That little church is not only on the historic registry, but the Kentucky Historical Council considers it to be a treasure of the state,” she said.
Wurtland Union Church was built on land donated by the town’s namesake, George Wurts, with lumber that he also supplied, according to local historian Tom Heaberlin. Local legend has it the church once served as a hospital for Union soldiers from nearby Camp Swigert during the Civil War, he said.
But more importantly, says Heaberlin, 90, it was from the congregation of Wurtland Union Church that an array of denominational churches on both sides of the Ohio River sprang forth. “There are thousands of people scattered around the world who have ties to that little church,” said Heaberlin.
As a child Heaberlin was baptized at Wurtland Union Church. His family attended the simple services there before the Wurtland Methodist Church was founded in the late 1920s. A Methodist lay pastor for more than 30 years, Heaberlin says his “strongest religious memories date back to that church.”
When the new building is completed, he hopes it will stand as a testament to the simplicity of worship and the possibility of unity among all Christians, regardless of their denominations.
“The simplicity of the worship service and the fellowship of people, the ecumenical spirit of the old Union church was a reality of what they talk about today but can’t get,” said Heaberlin. “They talk about ecumenicity all the time between the churches, but they don’t have it. There in this little Wurtland town, there was real ecumenicity. I remember that. They seemed to get along so well, without the big church battles when a little church was organized, the little nucleus of that group just moved out, without any great split. Then the little church kept going,” he said. “There is something about that little church. What? I don’t know, but it has survived to be a part of three centuries.”
It is the hope of Heaberlin, as well as others including Harris, that once completed the church will again serve as a gathering place for the community as well as the faithful.
CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2653.
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