Mom and I visted this church in August and thought you may want to take a trip there. There is also a roadside stand on the way to the church that sells "TOE JAM" which mom loves to eat. You may want to pick her up a case of it should you happen to go to Lineville. Below is some history regarding why this church is so unique.
In the late 1880’s the town of Linville was created in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina as a resort. Several of the original buildings were designed by architect Henry Bacon, the designer of the Lincoln Memorial, and constructed of American chestnut in a simple style of natural, native materials. The last structure to be built of Bacon’s design was All Saints Episcopal Church.
Commissioned in 1910, the church was completed in 1913. It is basically a log structure laid out as a Roman cross. The roof beams of the open ceiling, the rood screen, and the altar rails are of unstripped logs and branches. The walls were covered inside and out with chestnut bark shingles. The style of All Saints Church and the other buildings by Henry Bacon became known as the "Linville Style" and is typical of the architecture in the area.
At the time of the town’s construction, the American chestnut was one of the most important trees in the Appalachian Mountains. A large tree averaging five feet in diameter, it was well known for its quality timber, nutritious nuts, and creamy-white flowers. Beginning in 1904, a blight caused by an Asian born fungus began spreading through the chestnut forests. By 1950, the native American chestnut trees were gone. While new sprouts continue to grow in the mountains today, they quickly become infected and die. Attempts are now being made to breed the American chestnut with Asian chestnut trees – which are naturally resistant – in order to re-introduce them to our forests. If successful, these new trees would be a crossbreed of our own native original.
No comments:
Post a Comment