Group still looking to preserve church

NEWBURG – The group of people hoping to preserve Franklin County’s oldest church is seeking input from the community on the best way to restore and use the building.
The Mt. Pleasant Church Preservation Committee will hold a meeting at Mt. Pleasant Church, located at the intersection of old Highway 24 and Franklin 87 in the Newburg community, on Tuesday, June 26, at 6:30 p.m.
Franklin County Archives director Chris Ozbirn, who is part of the committee, said the meeting would serve as a way to get ideas about how the preservation committee should move forward.
“We want to talk to the people of that community who have ties to the church to see how they would like the building to be used,” Ozbirn said. “Our committee only took responsibility for the building because we didn’t want to see it torn down once the church closed its doors.
“We are more than willing to accept ideas because we want to use it in a way that will be beneficial to the citizens of Franklin County and the residents of the Newburg community.”
Mt. Pleasant Church officially closed its doors in March. When Ozbirn heard of its closing, she knew she had to step in because of the historical significance the church holds.
The current Mt. Pleasant Church was officially deemed a significant landmark by the Alabama Historical Commission and added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on April 11, 1984.
It is also part of the Hallelujah Trail, which is a grouping of 32 historical churches in North Alabama.
Ozbirn said the original Mt. Pleasant Church was started in 1825 by James Wesley Smith and started out as an old log building.
“Somewhere in the 1870s, they constructed the current building for Mt. Pleasant Church,” Ozbirn said, “which makes it the oldest standing church in the county. We couldn’t let an important building like that just get torn down.
At that point, Ozbirn, along with Stanley Champion and William Bishop, formed the Mt. Pleasant Church Preservation Committee, which is independent of the Franklin County Archives, to take responsibility for the property.
“The Archives couldn’t take control of the property because then it would become the responsibility of the county commission to restore it and pay for the cost of the upkeep,” Ozbirn said. “Since our committee is independent of any other group, we will have to raise our own money and secure our own funding to pay any expenses. This means we are going to need a lot of help from the community.”
Ozbirn said they have already received some support, including a very generous offer from North Carolina attorney David Wilkerson whose wife has ties to the area.
“Mr. Wilkerson and his wife got married at the church in 2010 and they were the last ones to get married there,” Ozbirn said. “He sent me an e-mail and told me he had seen the newspaper article in the Franklin County Times about needing volunteers and support for the church’s upkeep, and he offered to pay the utilities for the church indefinitely.
“He said it was a special place since it’s where he and his wife were married and he didn’t want to see it fall into disrepair. I couldn’t believe how generous that was, especially for someone who doesn’t even currently live here in Franklin County. We were very appreciative of his willingness to step up and help.”
Ozbirn said they still had a long way to go, however, and they hoped the meeting next week would be the next step in moving forward.
“We hope as many people as possible show up to this meeting,” she said. “We want to make this a great little place to have gatherings or weddings, but we’re going to need more help and input for it to get to that point.”
For more information about the meeting or for directions to the church, call 256-332-8827 to speak with Chris.