Vernal Presbyterian Church is a historic church near
Lucedale,
Mississippi in the unincorporated community of
Vernal.
Description and history
The church is a one-story,
gable fronted rectangular example of
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style architecture. The building faces south fronting a road that runs from Vernal River Road to Winborn Chapel Road. An approximately tall tower rises from a foyer in front of the sanctuary. The sanctuary has a steep gable roof covered with shingles. The tower has a
belfry with open handrails and a very steeply angled
steeple roof. There are two windows with Gothic art glass
transom
Transom may refer to:
* Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar
* Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet
* Operation Tran ...
s flanking the entry. The character of the building is further enhanced by the five windows on the east and west elevation with similar transoms. The rear elevation (north) contains an addition for a
Sunday school
A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West.
Su ...
from 1954 and a wing added to that addition of a fellowship hall from 1974. Inside the sanctuary ceiling is high and original fittings and details remain. These include choir seating and a lectern as well as a communion table and pulpit chairs from the congregation's previous church.
[
The items from the old church were donated by Captain Murdoch who is said to have brought them from ]Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...
via ox-drawn cart. The congregation first organized in 1880 mostly from Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
and Irish Americans. They built the old church in 1882. Plans to build the current Vernal Presbyterian Church were made in 1905 and it was built in from 1906 to 1908 entirely by volunteers from the congregation. The address of the church is 455 McInnis-Vernal Road. The property was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places on November 18, 2002.[
As of December 2022, the congregation is a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.][
]
See also
* National Register of Historic Place listings in Greene County, Mississippi
* Presbyterianism
References
External links
Official website
* *
Presbyterian churches in Mississippi
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi
Gothic Revival church buildings in Mississippi
Churches completed in 1908
20th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Greene County, Mississippi
1908 establishments in Mississippi
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