For nearly 185 years, Trinity
Church has ministered during Indian, Civil and World Wars, through
prosperity, the Depression, civil injustice and peace. United
Methodists still come to this historic corner of Tallahassee to
worship each Sunday in a beautiful, musicfilled sanctuary. The only
reminder of the church’s rich and many times sacrificial past is a
statement of its age on the front of the Bulletin and now a sign
depicting the church’s history recently placed in front of the
sanctuary.
Trinity’s story of the
faithfulness of six generations and the Wesleyan heritage they
passed on is stored in boxes and file cabinets in a little room just
outside the south end of the church parlor. The present Preservation
of Church History Committee has for several years wanted a room to
display membership record books, artifacts from previous church
buildings, pictures of former pastors and members, Charge Conference
records, old Disciplines, taped sermons, letters from servicemen
during World War II, and assorted documents and personal collections
of now deceased members.
The
Trinity Heritage Room is now under construction! The Trustees,
working with the pastors and the committee, have designated Room 309
of Trinity Hall to be renovated and furnished in a museum-like style
for proper display and easy accessibility of the church’s historical
records. The room will have laminate wood flooring, appropriate
lighting, brown blinds and cornices, and warm beige walls. The
design will include two remaining stained glass windows and two
benches from the 1893 church.
Committee members are creating a
time-line of the church’s history to extend the length of one wall.
Longterm plans include regularly changing displays of the
progression of the music program, the youth program, Sunday School
classes, the changes in church buildings through the years,
celebrations, pastors, unique periods of the church’s history and
others. Sermon and music tapes will be available for a visitor to
listen to, membership records are being transferred to CDs by Dr.
Lynn McLarty for people to check family genealogy, and scrapbooks of
people and special events are being compiled for visitors to look
through. Another display is planned to show the life of John Wesley,
founder of Methodism.
Renovation is expected to be
completed by the 185th anniversary of Trinity in September but
creation of the displays will be an on-going process.
To make the Heritage Room as
accessible as possible, plans call for it to be open at stated times
during each week. A group of Docents is being formed to serve as
hosts and hostesses and to explain the church’s history and
displays.
The committee needs other
interested people to help create the displays, to do artwork,
compile scrapbooks, to write historical summaries, to research, and
to sort and file collections. Volunteers may call committee
chair, Linda Yates, at
385-2768, or e-mail her at Yateslin@nettally.com. Trustees are
providing money to renovate the room but donations are needed to
purchase glass display cases, a conference table and chairs,
bookcases, a media cabinet to store CDs and tapes, wooden lateral
file cabinets, a tape player, and other equipment. Donations may be
made for any of these items in memory or in honor of a person or
simply a donation to be used as needed. A book will be kept in the
room listing donations in honor or in memory.
Bulletin
to be emailed Beginning in February, your weekly bulletin will be
delivered to your other mailbox. Your email mailbox, that is.
Trinity members are asked to either email their address to
120 West Park Avenue