We Bought a Church

[splitwdw]

Guys/Gals, that propane heater is not for inside a sealed house/church. It's for outdoors or in unsealed construction sites.

 

[MRG]

Guys/Gals, that propane heater is not for inside a sealed house/church. It's for outdoors or in unsealed construction sites.

Sure is. Guess you'd sleep OK, waking up might be a problem.

I used a kerosene heater in the past. Yes they are slow and I hate the smell of kerosene. Not sure of any better indoor option.

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[splitwdw]

Can't remember if it helped with the smell. A friend would fill a cast iron pot with water and cinnamon and put that on top of the kerosene heater.

 

[Fermion]

You should metal detect around there. Old silver coins can be found around old churches especially in areas where they may have had picnics. Owning the property would make it extra cool. I found two morgan dollars around a church in Georgia built in 1885.

 

[imoldernu]

Re: propane heat...
Propane Heater Safety

You can decide... Carbon Monoxide detector, and reasonable ventilation, and we don't use overnight. Hasn't been a problem as we use mostly for a quick room warm up then sustain with electric heaters. Some room type space heaters come with ODS, an automatic shutdown.

Problems usually come in with small spaces... several hundred cubic feet or less. Our room is 3200 cu. ft. plus additional ventilation.


Propane furnaces not subject to CO because of outside venting.

 

[davemartin88]

We have used kerosene heaters quite a bit and have found that the newer versions burn much cleaner and with less smell. We don't plan to use the heater for overnight stays. Good point about the CM detectors, doubt there is one there and would be a good idea to install in the main room where the stove and fireplace are located. Will pick up one right away.

 

[davemartin88]

Here are a few interior pictures. Other than a small bag on the kitchen table, everything else you see in the pictures was in the house as part of the purchase. The light above the stairway was an oil lamp that was converted to electric some time ago based on the wiring. We're not in to deer heads so they will probably have to go as well. Enjoy.

 

[davemartin88]

Thought I had posted a picture of the outside of the church, here's one. The porch was added some time after 1955 when the previous owner purchased the property. The dirt area you see is where a new septic tank and leach field were installed last summer. The original septic was actually on the property (pasture) next door and had to be removed if the property was ever sold.

I think I also promised a picture of the sink!

 

[Walt34]

Your guests will never forget the sink!

I'd keep it just for the sake of being unique.

 

[splitwdw]

That is some sink. Is there anything in the interior that's left of the old church? Is there a bathroom? Are there any downstairs bedrooms? What's in the screened in porch? Are you far off the main road? My mother would have a heart attack on those spiral stairs. My sister has a metal spiral staircase from her outside deck to a patio below and my mother won't use them.

 

[davemartin88]

Your guests will never forget the sink!

I'd keep it just for the sake of being unique.

We are leaning towards keeping the sink, it does add a certain "character"!

splitwdw- there are two bedrooms on the main floor, the living area takes up about 2/3 of the width of the church and the bedrooms the rest. There are two double beds in one bedroom and one double bed in the other. And yes, there is bathroom with a tub/shower. The bathroom even has an electric wall heater for just that room which warms it up nicely.

The spiral staircase is very narrow and I will add some additional rails to make the spaces between the stairs a bit smaller. Originally, there was a standard staircase to the loft area but it was removed to make room for the bathroom. There was only enough space for the small, spiral version and was only used by adults, mostly as a hunting camp.

I'm told that all 4 of the camps along the river here will most likely be in use for parts of Thanksgiving week as this is the kickoff for hunting season. In our county, the schools shut down for that week because of the high absenteeism there would be from the kids out hunting.

This camp is about 6 or so miles from the main road on a typical WV rural road. It's asphalt for the first 3 miles, then turns to two lane gravel before eventually being a single lane of what passes for gravel at the end. The road is plowed to within about a 1/4 mile of our camp where there is a farm used year round and a wide enough spot for a plow to turn around. We don't typically get too much snow and would use a four wheeler to get in if I needed to in the winter.

I realized I don't have any porch pictures, it has a couple of chairs, an old table and some cabinets and a place for a hammock. I'm going out there today so will get some pictures. There is also a pew from the original church being used as a bench for the table and another pew inside beside another table.

There is what looks to be the carcass of an organ in the living room but the insides are gone. Looks like it was used as a desk. I found a couple of wooden panels in the loft that look like they came from the organ, had the controls for tone, etc. I think. Will have to research a bit to see if this is old enough to be from when the church was in use.

Thanks for the interest.

 

[Dreamer]

Very nice. I have enjoyed looking at all of the pictures. I have never seen an orange sink before that picture. It is definitely unique! I am sure that you will have very good memories here. Looks peaceful.

 

[Meadbh]

It looks like an awesome retreat, Dave! I think the orange sink is a great conversation piece. The church would make a good place to write the next Great American Novel. With a few gallons of paint you can personalize it. Is the fireplace usable?

 

[gromit]

You should metal detect around there. Old silver coins can be found around old churches especially in areas where they may have had picnics. Owning the property would make it extra cool. I found two morgan dollars around a church in Georgia built in 1885.

+1. I've never used a metal detector, but was thinking the same thing. You could get lucky and find coins from the early church years or maybe even something from an earlier era. Civil or Revolutionary War musket balls, uniform buttons or coins come to mind.
I don't usually try to keep up with the Jones, but now I'm thinking I need a metal detector and a new sink!

 

[LoneAspen]

Very cool photos - thanks for posting!

I love the shot of the converted oil lamp. Think of all the times somebody had to unscrew that cap and fill that lamp with oil.

I'd definitely keep the sink. That's just too unique, and has a story behind it. No way I'd get rid of that.

Enjoy the place - looks amazing!

 

[splitwdw]

Davemartin, Thanks for filling in the bits and pieces. I hope you and your wife enjoy your new retreat. It looks so peaceful. I love hammocks. We set up a big one on our deck in the Summer.

 

[MRG]

Thank you, great church, love the setting. Love the sink we had a red one similar bold color but the orange is much more outstanding.

Metal detectors, I worked with these in the '70s in an industrial setting. I'm sure the technology is much better today(the guy we worked with was a WWII vet that built them for our soldiers, later for heavy duty industrial applications). The limited experience I had says you get what you pay for on the sensor side of the device not nessarily in flashy notification.

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[davemartin88]

Promised a couple of pictures of the porch.

This is one of the pews from the church behind a table in the porch, there is another pew inside the house by another table.

It's turned really cold here but milder weather forecast for next week so hope to get back out and explore a bit more.

I'm looking to buy a metal detector as I'm finding quite a few historical references to the area where the church is located- might be fun to see what I could find. It's probably been picked over or washed out by floods but I guess you never know. We're less than a quarter mile from a large rock formation that is mentioned as being a major location for the Wappacomo (different spellings in different sources) tribe at one time. Will research some choices for a detector and drop some hints for Christmas!

I also found references to specific Civil War skirmishes that were fought at the rocks nearby and on the two river fords that were above and below the formation. One of the river fords emptied directly on to what is now the church property and we were told that at times, people could walk across the rocks in the river to attend church?

Reading about the local history has been quite interesting- amazing to read about the families from the area before 1900 and how so many of the people we've met here are descendants. A couple of times I've read about a happening from say 1897, then run in to someone in town whose great or great-great grandfather was involved.

The most interesting book so far was one that described "The History of Hampshire County WV to the Present" with the present being 1897. The church we bought is mentioned in one location as being on the "circuit" of a particular parson. I found it online as a free e-book, amazing! I also found out that our local newspaper has paper copies of the book selling for about $90 (it's over 700 pages) so might have to splurge or make another holiday hint, lol. The e-book is great because you can search but a paper copy would be fun to have at the church given the limited cell coverage there for internet.

Thanks for the interests and questions.

 

[splitwdw]

Promised a couple of pictures of the porch.

Reading about the local history has been quite interesting- amazing to read about the families from the area before 1900 and how so many of the people we've met here are descendants. A couple of times I've read about a happening from say 1897, then run in to someone in town whose great or great-great grandfather was involved.

The most interesting book so far was one that described "The History of Hampshire County WV to the Present" with the present being 1897. The church we bought is mentioned in one location as being on the "circuit" of a particular parson. I found it online as a free e-book, amazing! I also found out that our local newspaper has paper copies of the book selling for about $90 (it's over 700 pages) so might have to splurge or make another holiday hint, lol. The e-book is great because you can search but a paper copy would be fun to have at the church given the limited cell coverage there for internet.

Thanks for the interests and questions.

Thanks for posting more pictures and love your porch.
It's surprising the information you can find in old books. I have some old books from the mid-1800's and several self published books about the area that I live in. I also have old maps from the 17 & 1800's that show the farms, shops, houses. I've got an old parchment deed (dated 1799) for part of our property. I had to look up what a "perch" was because that was the measurement used for the property.

 

[meierlde]

Re Dave martin88's comment I have found books published in the 1880-1900 period for towns where my ancestors lived. (In IA, and IN). They are typically called the history of xxx. Since they were published before 1925 they are free of copyright so they will get scanned and put online. Now these were in some sense vanity type books as you might have had to pay to get your family in the book, unless you were a significant person in the community (One ancestor was a state rep for one term, so he got into the book for example, others were the local physicians and lawyers.

 

[pb4uski]

I wonder if a pellet stove might do the trick. We have a Rinnai direct vent propane heater I. or garage loft and are very pleased with it.

 

[davemartin88]

I wonder if a pellet stove might do the trick. We have a Rinnai direct vent propane heater I. or garage loft and are very pleased with it.

If we see ourselves spending more time there in spring/fall when we just want to take the chill off for a day or two, we may look at a pellet stove in place of the wood burning stove. Existing stove chimney would work well for a vent and we'd still have the fireplace for "ambiance" if we just want to see fire and smell wood burning!

Our neighbor put in a pellet stove a couple of years back and works well for him, like the idea of a thermostat for control and the relatively quick cool down. If we have guests that stay there, using a thermostat and just keeping the pellet hopper full is probably much easier than dealing with wood. Propane would be even more simple with a tank on the outside of the house so another alternative. We don't see ourselves trying to make the church in to a year round house but some easy heat source is worth thinking about.

The portable kerosene heater we purchased did well for warming the one large living/kitchen area and it was in the 20's outside when we tried it so we're covered for the short term.

We're also having a square dance Saturday night in our local co-op building we're in the process of restoring and there is no heat where the dance will be held. We plan to run 3 or 4 of these larger heaters in there for a few hours before the dance starts to take the chill off. We'll be there to watch them and will shut them off when the dancing starts but will give the heater a good work out on Saturday. The forecast is calling for mid 40's so hoping the heaters will do the job! If you're near Romney, WV Saturday evening and want to learn traditional Appalachian and flat foot square dancing, come on by- I'll be serving the cornbread and chili in the heated space as I'm not a dancer!