Rise and Fall of a Christian Agrarian Community
I live in a little bit of town called Nanticoke. I know, you thought I lived in Lisle. Lisle is my mailing address on account of its the nearest town with a post office. Anyhow, Nanticoke is like a lot of other “used to be” towns in the hill country. If you look hard enough you can see the skeletal remains of a once thriving community complete with shops, small farms and churches. This area was settled in the late 1700’s and grew and thrived. There was, from what research I’ve done (talking to oldtimers), a large spiritual revival that took place here many years ago. Like other towns just like it, none of this remains. What happened? Well, I am setting out to find out what happened. The rich history of these hills and valleys is all but forgotten by the those who live here. There are however, some old timers left. One fellow down at the baptist chuch is over 100 years old. There is another couple that is in their 90’s who farmed the hill top across from ours. With a tape recorder in hand I am planning on doing some real long interviews with folks who saw the rise and fall of this community, in hopes that we can learn what went wrong. My hopes are to write a book from this research, with the help of some saints that can fix my spelling errors and help me with the footnotes and such. This whole idea came to me while milking this morning! I’m sure it will take a lot of time to finish, but it seems like a worthwhile project. I’ll be sharing some of the interesting things I uncover here as I go along.
January 27th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Scott,
I LOVE your idea. Go for it!! Sign me up for being one of your friend/editors, too.
We’re currently attending a church that has a pipe organ which has been built, maintained, and played by one of the founding members of the church. (Out here in our little Denver suburb, “old” is considerably newer than where you’re from. Our church has been around for only about 50 years.) I just last week asked if anyone had ever interviewed this parishoner. He’s in his 80’s and he still keeps plugging along with the organ. I hope to interview him this summer. You’ve given me a gentle nudge to actually carry through with my plan. Thanks! And I’ll be praying about YOUR plan.
Blessings to your family,
Deb, from Colorado, where it’s snowing yet again! We’ve had snow on the ground since before Christmas–quite unusual for us. Global warming…ha!
January 27th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Oh Scott! What a Wonderful idea! I can’t wait to read the story!
Blessings!
Cheri
January 27th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
You have a great idea there, Scott. This is the kind of thing that needs to be done more often, especially in America where many just don’t seem to care about history. Most of those oldtimers really love to sit down and recall their past, but so many of us “youngins” don’t want to take the time to do so.
Let me know when/if you need some editing or proofreading. Perhaps I can finally put my journalism degree to some use.
January 27th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
A very worthwhile project indeed!
January 27th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
Count me in as an editor to if you need me.
January 27th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Grant Wood: “all the really good ideas I’d ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.”
January 28th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
This sounds great. Please keep us all posted on your progress. MO. Rev. has a feature that emails me and other readers when he writes a new post. Do you have that capability, and if so, could you put me on your list? Thanks, Matt
Happy Lord’s Day! Let’s Celebrate!
January 28th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
An excellent idea, I’ll be glad to help if I am needed.
January 29th, 2007 at 6:02 am
Hi All
Thank you for the encouragment and the offers of help! I have started doing some research and hope to post some interesting findings soon. My inlaws had a collection of newspaper clipings from 1874 thru 1880’s. Very interesting stuff. The town had an Agriculural Society and its own fair that was as good as the county fair! The paper has the sermon text from a Thanksgiving day sermon and several addresses made to the Ag Soc by the local pastors. It also has hints of troubles that were here as well. A secret society(Order of Good Templars) and other “endarkenment” thinking that was seeping into a christian community.
January 29th, 2007 at 10:10 am
That is a wonderful idea. We need to be reminded of the “community” that used to be a normal part of life. We also need to try and determine what exactly killed it and how to bring it back.
February 12th, 2007 at 7:28 am
What a great idea, I am so happy you are inspired to this. I have always believed in community involvement. Growing up in a small community in Kansas has stayed with me. One day I hope to be involved in that type of community again. God Bless You.