IF YOU GO
What: Pioneering Pulpits: The First Ocoee Churches Where: The Museum Center at Five Points, 200 Inman St. E., Cleveland, Tenn. Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday; closed Sunday and Monday. Through April 4. Admission: $5 adults, $4 seniors and students, free for ages 5 and under. Information: 339-5745 or museumcenter.org Participating churches Cumberland Presbyterian Church Candies Creek Baptist Church 1st United Methodist Church Church of St. Therese Broad Street Methodist Church 1st Presbyterian Church St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
In America’s pioneering days, the settlers’ westward advance often was accompanied in lockstep with the spread of their faith. Where they set down roots, they put up steeples.
“Pioneering Pulpits,” an exhibit at the Museum Center at Five Points in Cleveland, Tenn., traces the history of churches in the area through dozens of artifacts and documents on loan from congregations in Polk and Bradley counties.
“Religion, specifically Christianity, has always been really important to the history of Bradley County,” says Sam Rumschlag, the museum’s curator of collections. “Many churches we received support from have roots that go back to the founding of Bradley County (in 1836).”
“This is something we thought would strike the interest of (the community) and … help demonstrate the continuity between Bradley County’s past and present,” he says.