Shade Church

 

Front of Shade Church

     It was more of an accident that I found Shade Church. I was actually in the area looking for Crum Cemetery, which I have blogged about earlier, and by chance came across this old church. I wrote down its location and as much information as I could then and set it aside for another time. While the weather broke for a brief period this past mid-winter, I decided to investigate into the place a little further. Brian, a friend of mine, and I packed up camera's and gear and set out to explore.

      I was unable to gather much information about Shade Church before we decided to investigate. From pictures of the front of the building I was able to tell it was a white boarded church built-in 1822 and had a cemetery across the road. Other than that, I was unable to find anything else about its history online. However, its paranormal history was more evident. Claims of ghostly apparitions dancing in the cemetery, caretakers of the church refusing to go back, and mysterious voices, sounds, and lights coming from within have made their way onto the internet.

A Look Inside

      Once we arrived to the church we parked along the road dividing the church and cemetery and started to examine the building from the outside. Stain-glass windows still remained around the building and the bell was still hanging in the tower. The building and cemetery seemed up kept. To our surprise we found the church doors open. We decided to respectfully venture further to take some photographs. Upon entering we were surprised to see all the pews in place, an alter with antique velvet chairs, a piano in the right corner and old wood burning stove. The interior was well maintained from what we could see. Only a little light came through the stain-glass leaving out vision poor. We both had an eerie feeling come over us at one point, but didn't witness any of the paranormal claims it held. Once we had our share of photos, we left the church both unexpectedly happy that we were able to enter the premises.

     On the way back home we talked and hoped to find out more history into the church and what community it once served. Hopefully we will get a chance to return when its warmer.

The Adjacent Cemetery