With a stormy week, this old church probably appreciates the sunny Sunday morning. This 1888 church was slated to be torn down but instead it was moved down the road from its original location and now it is used for events like weddings and celebrations.
A Church Weathering the Storms
This old building has seen it fair share of work weeks but it is still standing so there is some life left in these old boards and beams, even with its leans and sags.
Too Many Work Weeks
For the last several days, the cattle haven’t needed a shade tree but an umbrella instead with all the rain and maybe soon they will need an ark too.
Under the Shade Tree
Earlier this month I stopped on a Tuesday evening to take some pictures of the old Peace Lutheran church and by Friday that week, the old red brick church was torn down so it is no longer standing under the Milky Way. But memories of the church will still twinkle, like the stars, in the minds of former parishioners and area residents who drove by the church.
No Longer Under the Milky Way
People in California felt the earth shake from the recent quake and I wonder how the earth would have rumbled when the prairie was filled with the great herds of buffalo which stretched for miles. It must have been a sight to see (from a far distance that is, as I wouldn’t want to be stepped on), although it might have been a little smelly with all those buffalo chips!
When the Buffalo Did Roam
Old metal retired from working still provides value as decoration. It took me a while to figure out the writing near the star since with a picture you can’t do an etching to raise the lettering but by playing with contrast and other setting, I finally was able to read the word STAR on top and then Wilcox Mfg Co, Aurora, ILL, Pat.d June 1886.
The Wilcox Manufacturing Company started in 1880 and was purchased in 1910 by the Richards Company (which started in 1870) and formed the Richards-Wilcox Company which is still manufactures specialty door hardware and overhead conveyor systems. An ad in the Farm implement news buyer’s guide dated 1906 for the Wilcox Mfg Co lists these items; barn door hangers, house door hangers, hardware specialties, wagon jacks, emery grinders, wire stretchers, loose and mounted grindstones.
Old Star
Close up of the old metal logo.
The steeple doesn’t stand high on a ridge in southwestern Wisconsin, but Salem Evangelical Church steeple had proudly displayed since 1875 in a farming valley called Metzgar’s Valley near Norwalk, with a pasture full of cattle off to the left and surrounded by fields. Salem, meaning peace, has seen eight generations through its doors, arriving first by horses and later by automobiles, and at the end of their life, they may be laid to rest in the cemetery called Wanderers’ Rest. In 1968 the Evangelical United Brethren Church joined with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church.
Peace In The Valley
While pretty weeds or wildflowers can spice up a scene, so can late summer flowers planted in a yard. The garden zinnia stems back to a native plant found in Mexico and a species sample was collected by Spanish botanists in 1789 and now there are many different cultivars of the zinnia flower. And it is hard to say which is older, this zinnia cultivar or the old milk and pump house, but they are both pretty.
Zinnias and Milkhouse
Off the beaten path, this 1898 Northern Swedish Mission, or more commonly referred as the Perley Church, is the the only building to survive after a fire in 1905 destroyed the town of Perley Station near Turtle Lake, Wisconsin.
John Perely was an area lumber baron who, in addition to building the church, also developed a strain of lilac called the “Perley Lilac”. Two “Perley” lilacs stand on either side of the entryway to the church so I might have to revisit this building in the spring to see the lilacs in bloom. The church is now a private residence and bell from bell tower is in Turtle Lake.
Perley Church
All around the countryside, the combines have been working overtime to get the summer grains harvested. A combine was busy in the field behind the barn and by now, the front field has probably been harvested during this sunny week.
Summer Grains
