Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd
1512 Blanding Street

The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd began in 1883 as a modest congregation meeting in the homes of its parishioners. Within a year it began constructing a single gable, steeped pitched wooden church on land granted by Colonel Thomas Taylor in exchange for maintaining the adjacent Taylor family cemetery. This Barnwell Street building served the church for a few short years until 1899 when dispute over title to the land led the congregation to purchase the current Blanding Street lot for $1,500.00. Soon thereafter construction began on today's Gothic Revival style brick building and Reverend William Postell Witsell gave the first service in the new church on October 6, 1901. According to church tradition, the property's original wood structure was moved and donated to an African-American church nearby.

The circa-1901 church is executed in a cruciform shape, featuring a central tower, diagonal buttresses, and a stark white octagonal steeple. The tower, or narthex, has double lancet windows, while larger pointed arch windows line the nave. A parapet adorns the roofline, following the slope to the central tower. The interior is simple in design with a vaulted open beam ceiling. A central aisle leads to the altar, where a stained glass window highlights the wall behind it. Given in 1893 as a memorial, the window was moved from the original Barnwell Street building to the Blanding Street site, shipped across the six blocks pane by pane. Reassembling the window resulted in only one pane broken and another cracked.

The church has stood well the test of time. However, in 1996 the steeple was found to be tilting due to the weight of its heavy slate shingles. Workers replaced the steeple's original wood supports with a custom-designed steel frame, nonetheless, the structure's original steeple has yet to be reinstalled. Recent cleaning and small restoration projects have helped maintain much of the church's original appearance, however. A memorial garden lies west of the church, nicely complementing the century-old structure.

Staci Richey and John Sherrer

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