Since 1850, the Old Stone Church in Catoosa County has been a Presbyterian church, a Methodist church, a Baptist church, and a hospital for both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. It is now a museum operated by the Catoosa County Historical Society – which hopes to soon make the historic building a research library as well.
Over the years, the museum has acquired a collection of local and regional history books, which sit unused in boxes because the museum has nowhere to display them, said Bill Clark, a past president of the historical society who is heading up a fundraising campaign to build a library onto the back of the church.
In addition to history books, the library will house the museum’s collection of old photographs of Ringgold, which was “quite a swinging place” before the Civil War, Clark said. It will also include Civil War records of the Union and Confederate armies in the area, biographies of significant local figures and inventories of cemeteries in Catoosa County.
The library will also provide resources for genealogical research, including access to online databases and subscriptions to research sites such as Ancestry.com, Clark said.
The society plans to pay the entire $40,000 cost of the library addition through donations, which he said they don’t expect to have trouble getting based on the interest people show in the museum now.