My name is Mason Davis and I go to Tri-North Middle school. In my free time I like to bike around our neighborhood and discover new places. There are a lot of cool things hidden in the woods, but one seemed to stick out to me more than the rest. I was looking at Google Maps and out in the middle of nowhere there was a church. I was curious, so I went out to go find it and all that’s left are some old headstones and a foundation.
The steps and foundation of the entryway is all that was left after the church (as shown below) was razed.
I went to the Indiana Room at the Monroe County Public and found that Rev. Benjamin Whittington started a church in the log school house located by Friendship Graveyard in 1857. In 1867, a one room log church was built nine miles east of Bloomington on Friendship Road.
There wasn’t a picture and I really wanted to see what it looked like so I went to the Monroe County Historical Society. There I found that what’s left of the foundation is only the stoop and the church was much bigger. The church was actually torn down and saved, then later built in the Indiana University Outdoor Museum.
I enjoyed hunting down and discovering the church and researching it. I later found out that my great grandpa actually remembered when the church was still established on Friendship Rd. I hope to continue to find new things around my neighborhood. There’s actually an old iron bridge over Stephens Creek that I want to learn about next.
John Burnham