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The Little Brown Church in the Wildwood: The First Ninety Years
The First Ninty Years of Union Chapel in Summertown
Walden, Tennessee
See Second Editon 100 Years The Little Brown Chuch in the Wildwood
Author
Karen Paul Stone
Publisher
Waldenhouse
Description
Casebound; 350 pages; 6"x9" $25.00
82 photographs and illustrations; Index
Availability September 1998
Order from
Karen Stone
Waldenhouse Publishers, Inc.
100 Clegg Street
Walden (Signal Mt.), TN 37377
423-886-2721    888-222-8228
karenstone@waldenhouse.com
      The year 1908 brought an important addition to the Summertown community of Waldens Ridge above Chattanooga in Tennessee. A group of summer-time residents constructed a small building with the name of Union Chapel, that soon thereafter came to be known as The Little Brown Church in the Wildwood. This latter name was lifted from a song in the Cokesbury Worship Hymnal titled The Church in the Wildwood. A prominent resident of Summertown, Robert Henry Williams, altered the wording and it became the Union Chapel's theme song.
      This book tells the story of the small, but loyal, congregation of the Little Brown Church, that meets only during the months of June, July and August each year, as it has ever since it was founded. But there is much more involved than the bare facts of its history .
      In a world that is caught up in a sticky tangle of sweeping changes, social, technical and economic, with all the accompanying stress and bewilderment, this tiny chapel, hidden in the green woodland of one of the oldest settlements on Walden's Ridge, is a quiet oasis of traditional and unchanging values. It's a voluntary association of the young, the middle aged, and the old, who wish to hold fast to the fundamentals of the Christian faith, regardless of denomination and is an example of communal sharing that is highly familial.
      On Sunday mornings as the weekly message is being delivered to the adults, the children are sent to classes downstairs or out in the yard.The songs sung are those of long ago: the thumping, rollicking enthusiasm of Revive Us Again, or Love Lifted Me, or Beulah Land, alternate with the haunting melodies and lyrics of In the Garden or The Old Rugged Cross, or Amazing Grace.
      Best of all is the happy inclusion and enthusiastic participation of the youngest children, who pass the baskets for the collection, or run up and down the only aisle, or sit in the windows -and at the end of the service, as the congregation unites in singing The Little Brown Church in the Wildwood, they come forward to tug on the rope that rings the church bell, telling all on the mountain and in the world that the Little Brown Church is alive and well. Nature itself participates: the birds are caroling in the leafy branches outside; the horses and ponies tethered to the trees, neigh and nicker; and the friendly dogs trot in and out and up and down the aisle, happily wagging their tails. The whole of creation seems to join in!
      Memories built here last lifetimes. Whether it be in the cool fresh green and gold of early June, or the brassy heat of July, or as the leaves begin to turn in late August, the Little Brown Church is a precious symbol of faith in God, family, and Things Eternal. This book tells its life story ...up to now!
 
About the author:
      Karen Paul Stone lives with her husband, Charlie, in the little Town of Walden, Tennessee. She has been documenting history since 1965 when she completed her first oral history project. A student of the well known folklorist, Dr. William Hugh Jansen at the University of Kentucky, she recorded stories on Place Names of Walden's Ridge.
      Beginning in 1971, she operated the typesetting and composition departments of Ashland Press and of Transylvania Printing Company in Lexington, KY. There she collaborated with authors in graphic design, composition and editing to produce books, guides, maps, and art prints of historical interest.
      She has collaborated on several memoirs. Recent books she has authored include: Educating for Eternity - A History of Boyd-Buchanan School and Walden's Ridge:The Early Years
   

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