Wadsworth Congregational Church Photography by Ashley Fetner Wadsworth Congregational Church, designated as a Guilford County Historical Landmark, is located on Rock Creek Dairy Road in Whitsett. It was built in 1885 by Rev. William Madison Lindsey, who founded the church in1870. Rev. Lindsey’s parents were slaves. He escaped to Canada and later returned to the United States and lived in Cambridge, Mass. In Cambridge, William Lindsey was employed as a valet to the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow helped Lindsey with his admission to Oberlin College in Ohio, and Lindsey attended school there from 1862 to 1866. After graduation, Rev. Lindsey returned home to found and later build the Gothic Revival style church, which he named after Longfellow’s mother. The brass bell from England that hangs in the bell tower was presented to the Wadsworth Congregational Church in August of 1886 by businessman and philanthropist James J.H. Gregory. The bell is inscribed with Psalm 89:15 “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.” —Kay Fetner
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Ashley and Kay Fetner are members of Randolph EMC. www.ashleyfetnerportraits.com
20 SEPTEMBER 2011 Carolina Country