The other day I had mapped out a route to take me by some older country churches on my way to a funeral. With the help of aerial maps, I could tell ahead if the church looked old and how high the steeple was from the shadow on the ground. Some of the churches I could find out some history before I left on the road trip and I thought I knew which church would be the oldest one, built before 1900, but I was wrong as I found an older church.

And the first thing I noticed when I got out of the car, at what turned out to be the oldest built church on my trip, was the weather vane on top of the steeple which proudly displayed the year it was built. Section 10 Lutheran Church, east of Cumberland, WI, was built in 1893 on land given by Oluf Charles Christiansen Rolla with lumber donated by Peter Johnson, both are buried in the cemetery.

Although it is a small church, it is surprising how many lives it has touched, as not only does it have a family connection to me, but the band teacher from my high school years (which is more than an hour away), was also confirmed there and his grandfather helped build the church.

Section 10 Lutheran Church

And the weather vane which has weathered many years.