| The two
churches shown above are indicative of the fate of many former
village and rural churches that existed in Monroe County, when
there were between fifteen and twenty more of them than there
now are.
In the upper photo is
shown part of the front of the former Catholic Church at
Stoutsville, where for fifty years people gathered to worship in
the hand cut stone building. It is now privately owned and
used as hay storage. On its front door is a sign “Keep
Out”.
The lower photo shows the
belfry and upper part of the former Primitive Baptist Church at
Stoutsville, long abandoned and now, as can be seen, being taken
over by trees and underbrush. The bell long ago disappeared
and the building is in poor repair.
Elsewhere in Monroe
County, many of the former places of worship have been torn
down, others are no longer in use.
One of the most
extraordinary church fronts a few years back was that of the
Primitive Baptist Church at Stoutsville. It had been
abandoned for years as a house of worship and was being used as
a storage room for dynamite. On the front of the building
appeared the name of the church and beneath it these words,
“Explosive, Keep Out.”
The present owners of the
former Catholic Church at Stoutsville, a stone building,
discovered recently that an attempt had been made to chisel
around and remove the cornerstone of the building, but had
failed to do so. Seems a rumor got around that the
cornerstone contained some old coins that today might be
valuable. We once knew what was put into that cornerstone,
but can’t remember now, but we’re pretty sure nothing of any
great value was placed in it. Documents and some emblems
used by the church are probably the only articles in it, none of
them of much if any money value.
Source: Photos and
article from the Monroe County Appeal dated October 19,
1967; submitted by Judy Baker Barklage. |
