Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Really... Who owns a church?

We do! I should say that we are not religious people - or at least, not that I want to discuss on this blog.

We like old buildings. One day in 2003, I was cruising real estate sites (what? don't you do that?!?) and I found a church for sale in an area of SW Wisc that we enjoy. It was a reasonable sale price and my husband has always wanted to own a commercial building. We drove up to Wisc 3 days later and put in an offer.

The history
This is a primitive Methodist Church that was built, near as we can tell from the history relayed by the locals and documentation, around 1850. It was built on a farmer's land and was deeded to the church congregation around mid 1860s. This was a active church until the mid 1990s. Our current neighbor was the last person to be married and several of the local children were baptized in what is now our weekend home.

The Location
SW Wisconsin, specifically Georgetown. On about 1/4 acre of land. We have neighbors on both sides and across the road is a corn (or sometimes soybean) field. A nearby neighbor is a dairy farmer and has cows that we can hear bellowing. Georgetown has no post office, no general store, no gas station. It is a small community of homes gathered in a rural setting. All neighbors know one another and look out for each other. We share garden abundance. A neighbor helps to mow part of our lawn and keeps our parking pad clear of snow (which is extremely appreciated by us on late nights in January when we arrive after 10 pm and can easily pull in our parking spot).