Buel Methodist
Episcopal Church
Date Visited: August 3, 2019
Stop: #41
Alright!! We had just visited Trinity Church in Croswell and it was now 5:00 pm. After 7 hours of adventure and surprises, we
were starting to get a bit road weary, but we knew there were are least 5 more
stops we wanted to hit. We wasted no
time getting back on the road and headed to our next destination. We drove south on Howard Street the 0.85
miles to Peck Road (M-90). We turned
right and headed west for 5.14 miles to our next destination. At the top of a hill, on the north side of
Peck Road, stood our next historical site, the Buel Methodist Episcopal Church. This is a really beautiful building that
almost seemed out of place nestled in between a subdivision on the east side
and nothing but farmland everywhere else.
Just like the previous church
we visited, I could not find any information on this building other than what
was written on the historical marker. Seeing
as this is the Information Age, it seems unusual that I can search the internet
far and wide and not find anything on this building. The sign told us that this was the first
church in Buel Township and was dedicated on December 3, 1882. It was named the Buel United Methodist Church
at the time. There were seven founding
trustees, all listed on the sign. The
Gothic style stained glass windows were added in 1910, and the appearance of
the church has remained the same ever since.
The church name was changed to its present name in 1968.
We walked about the grounds
and I took a few pics of Sarah hamming it up on the front porch (see one of
them below). Sarah tried the front doors
to see if they were open so we could go inside and look at the beautiful
stained-glass windows, but alas they were locked. Kathy found a plaque attached to the post of
the historical marker indicating the location of a time capsule that the Sunday
School had buried in 2007. The time
capsule is not to be opened until 2032 – twenty-five years after it was buried. With nothing much else to do, it was time to
move on.
But, of course, I can’t move
on until I give you all a little history on Buel Township, named after one of
the early settlers to the area. Turns
out, Buel is a very popular name in this region. In fact, I have to defer to a quote from John
Robinson, author of a piece called MICHIGAN HISTORY: The Ghost &
Shadow Towns of Buel Township.
He wrote “If you visit Sanilac County sometime, you may wanna visit the
town of Buel, once called the Buel P.O., found in Buel Township, south of the former
community of Buel Centre. Yes, it can
get confusing if you’re looking for just plain ‘Buel.’”
Buel Township was founded in
the mid-1800’s and was first settled in 1852 by Ezra Van Camp. In 1856, a post office went into operation
and the surrounding community was simply called Buel P.O. James McGrath (the stepfather of Ezra’s wife)
was the first postmaster, with good ol’ Ezra taking over in 1860. Ezra had become a substantial landowner in
the area by this time, and he was also the Township Supervisor. Ezra met his demise in 1865 when he was
murdered on Peck Road by Rowdy Reed, who confessed to the murder years
later. Up until that time, authorities
thought Ezra had died because of an unfortunate wagon accident. In any event, Ezra’s brother, James Van Camp,
succeeded Ezra as postmaster in 1865.
The post office closed in 1871 and reopened 6 years later, this time
with Ezra’s son, James, taking on the postmaster duties. The post office closed for the final time in
1901.
As the township grew, more
communities sprung up. There was Buel
Centre, which is literally in the center of Buel Township. Just north of Buel Centre, the community of
Hicks took root and briefly had its own post office from 1893 to 1895. Another community called Aitken sprung up
northwest of Hicks, but all that remains of Aitken today is an old one-room
schoolhouse. Today, Buel Township has a
population of 1,203 (as of 2017) with three major communities – Applegate,
Croswell, and Peck. Farming is its major
industry.
#michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #historyisbetterwithwine
No comments:
Post a Comment