| City/Town: • Holly Grove • Pine |
| Location Class: • Church |
| Built: • 1900's | Abandoned: • 2002 |
| Status: • Abandoned |
| Photojournalist: • Michael Schwarz • Eddy Sisson |
This church first opened in the early 1900’s as the First Baptist Church Of Pine and had around 200 members. In the late 50’s, this church saw a rapid decrease in members as many passed on or moved to bigger towns. Time went on and the church continued to struggle with weekly tithing and rapidly declined. Finally the church closed with only 6 members in 1980.
5 years later, Roosevelt Urquhart, a pastor from another local town attempted to bring this old church back as an extension of another church called Mt. Zion Church. This was supposed to help bring in new members who couldn’t make it out to other churches in other adjacent towns. This did not work as he planned. After only 17 years, this little place of worship had sung its last hymn. In 2002, Mt. Zion closed their doors with no hope for the future.
Today, the structure sits in decay with pianos, hymnals, and the energy of a once vibrant church. The walls are falling in, the flooring is molding, and the paint is fading. In the early 2000’s the majority of the pews were given to a Church in a near by town in Holly Grove.
Gallery Below
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Wow! This might the saddest post, for me. I'm usually fascinated by the photos, but this one tugged heart strings! I think of how many families gathered there through the years – the celebrations, the memories made. And the doors were just closed. It's as if the last person out, locked up for the day, to return the next, and never did. By looking at the outside, I would never had guessed the inside looked like that! So sad!
Do you know what are they going to do with the rest of the pews and the piano?
I'm not too sure. To my knowledge, they will just be left there to rot…. The city might want to sell some of it.