According to a nice gentleman who lives nearby, this was a schoolhouse during the week and a church on Sunday. He told me many of the old one room schoolhouses in the area served such double-duty. Consolidation closed the school and folks drifted away to larger churches.
A unique and beautiful little church. There's usually a cornerstone built into the native rock foundation of a church such as this, but I couldn't find one.
There is a cornerstone dated 1881, but I imagine it was from a previous church structure.
This looks to me to be a bell tower, but I have never seen one separate from a church. Anyone know or care to speculate?
Although southeast Arkansas' Jewish population is in decline, this small temple, built in 1947, continues to hold services. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas posts this article on the history of the temple and its congregation. Meir Chayim is on the National Registry of Historic Places and the Arkansas Historic Preservation write-up is here.
The double doors are made of deeply carved wood.
The same storm system that brought tornados and so much anguish to Alabama on January 23rd came through Arkansas hours earlier. One twister touched down here near Kingsland and wiped out Camp Springs Methodist Church.
The pulpit was left standing...
...as was the outhouse...
This picture was taken early last November. The scaffolding was set up to repair a set of stained glass windows that were damaged about a month previous in a hailstorm.
After replacing about fifteen pieces of glass,
