BETTER THAN HEARSAY by Michael Ryan - Faithful To Its Safekeeping

ASHLAND - The venerable North Settlement Church is just a young’un compared to the upcoming 250th anniversary of America.

While the building wasn’t yet built in 1776, along County Route 10 in the hills of the town of Ashland, it was there 50 years hence.

So a good crowd of folks gathered for the 200th birthday of the Methodist meetinghouse, last Saturday afternoon, also drawn by a slideshow presentation from popular local historian Larry Tompkins.

Vintage postcards and photographs were the subject of a slideshow by historian Larry Tompkins including a circa 1910 shot of distant relatives James Tompkins (right) James’ son Cornelius (left), Cornelius’ daughter Mamie (Tompkins) Beers (standing) and Mamie’s son Cornelius.

And speaking of comparative whippersnappers, the party attracted Lula Anderson, gearing up for her 95th birthday, and three members of the Church Restoration Committee who are eternally kids-at heart.

There is no record on the precise date the chapel doors opened in 1826. Therefore, for anniversary’s sake, “that day is today,” said Restoration Committeeman Ronald Alan, the MC for the occasion.

Close is close enough for the North Settlement Church, placed in 1996 on the National Registry of Historic Places while possessing sacred internal noteworthiness of its own.

Alan, before introducing Tompkins, made respectful mention of Francis Burns and Robert Manno, connected through time.

Burns, in the mid-1800’s, was the first African-American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, spending his youth in the Ashland congregation, living on the Atwood farm.

Burns was born in poverty, being placed in servitude with the Atwood family and finding his calling in the ministry, later artistically inspiring Manno.

Manno was an internationally known composer and longtime member of the Metropolitan Opera chorus before retiring to Ashland with his wife Magdalena Golczewski, a violinist with the MET.

The couple founded the Windham Chamber Music Festival, and Manno composed a musical piece emotionally and spiritually evoked by Burns, passing away in the week leading up to the North Settlement event.

Having resettled in the same high hills, even higher and closer to heaven, “Bob Manno was a strong supporter of our church,” Alan said.

Tompkins, as usual, was a hit with the latest in a long line of slide shows, offering his collection of historic postcards and photographs including distant relatives and memories of a once-bustling community.

The bethel was packed and the purposely hard-backed pews were familiar to Lula Anderson who was on hand, as usual, traveling from her Ashland home, readying for her mid-nonagenarian birthday in December.

“I remember coming here as a kid and the corn roasts every summer,” Lula said, growing up as a Holdridge down in the valley, still serving as a lay servant with the Ashland Community United Methodist Church.

And sweet reminiscences of disrupting Sunday sermons with their giggling were shared by Restoration Committee members Dawn (Bailey) Thorp, Paula (Van Hoesen) Scarey and Louise Lebrun.

They were children together in the North Settlement Church, much much much too young to see its raising but forever faithful to its safekeeping.

North Settlement Church celebrated its 200th birthday, last Saturday. Among those on hand were (left to right) guest speaker Larry Tompkins and  Church Restoration Committee members DawnThorp, Louise Lebrun, Ronald Alan and Paula Scarey.

The event also served as a reunion for Thorp, Lebrun and Scarey who spent their childhoods together in the congregation, remembered in a vintage photo of (left to right) Sandy Case, Sandra Myers, Lebrun, Thorp (nee Bailey) and Scarey (nee Van Hoesen).