There was an old church in our local town, it was built in 1887. It was a Baptist Church, what I recall about those Baptists is that they sang great songs and they went down to the lake every spring and baptized their members in the lake.. yup..totally immersed them in the water.. sprinkling a little water wasn't good enough..you had to be dunked. Being Lutheran, I always thought that our music was fairly dull and we could take a lesson or two from the Baptists. Anyway..the old church was old..it made it past the 100 year celebration..I think it got a new coat of paint that year. Then there were rumors of building a new church. The old church ended up at The Lake Itasca Pioneer Farmers Grounds.
I was anxious to see it, it has been resided and perhaps even re shingled..it looks great. The steeple seemed taller and more massive than I remember. It may not see a congregation every Sunday, but it is preserved as a reminder of days past.
I couldn't help but think about my father in law. You see the church had a small entry a long time ago, lots of churches up here in Minnesota had them, it helped to keep out the cold wind in the winter, but it was also a perfect area to fill with pumpkins at Halloween. Yes sir, he was part of the very wild bunch that stole pumpkins and carted them over to the church filling up the entryway. I believe they also filled the outhouse with pumpkins...country kids..raising havoc in town:)
