Sometimes I Just Wish...

   A few weeks back, after seeing a picture on a web site, we decided to drive down into Camden County (the next county below ours) and take some pictures of our own.

   There was this old church, well off the beaten track, and we needed a day trip just to get out of the condo and see some different scenery.

   South on US 17, into Camden County, the directions of the web site said to turn to the right onto Providence Church Road. We found it and turned. So far so good. It was a nice paved road for about a quarter of a mile, then this:

   And the map we had seen had no mileages on it, so we had no idea how far it was to the church. So we drove, and we drove some more. I wished I had clocked it on the odometer. In my mind it must have been at least 5 miles, but when you are driving at 25 miles an hour to keep from jarring your wife to death, maybe it just seemed that long.

   Surely this had to be the right road, it had the right name on it, and, as the road met up with a real paved one, there was the church on the corner.

   Providence Methodist Church, the church building from 1856, with a real artesian well out front.

    (From the website: A delightful and somewhat rare well sits on the road running in front of Providence. Once common in the south, particularly along the coast, these free flowing wells were called “Artesian Wells”. They were drilled or often just occurred naturally at the surface because of high water pressure in an area.)

   The story is that back in the 1920s, a hurricane had shifted the building from its foundation, and they used a team of oxen to straighten it up. Still leans to the right though.

   This church is still in use today, and from the pictures on the website, the interior is well kept. Looks like the pew seats are constructed with one board. Doesn't look real comfortable, but perhaps they stood a lot or at least had short sermons. The website is here: http://hrcga.org/providence-methodist-camden/

   It also looks as though, someone did not want to throw anything away.

   The old sign was still there, leaning on the side of the building.

   The old outhouse, a little worse for wear, was out back, even though new restrooms were inside.

   It was a neat spot, and I wished for a little time to explore further, but, alas, the gnats were finding me, and it was time to go.

   I wish I could have gone inside, but the doors were locked.

   I wish I could have talked to the folks who still worshiped here.

   And this morning, as I looked again at the shots, and thought about how thirsty I seemed to be, I wished I had taken a cup and drank from that old well.

   Isn't it true, that there are times that all of us wish we had done something, and didn't, and, sometimes, the wishes were far more important than well water?