Our first stop in the second mission was the Garrett County Historical Museum on S. 2nd Street in downtown Oakland.We had of course been there before; it was there that I saw the exhibit of memorabilia from Oakland's great hotels that set me off on the trail of the African-Americans who worked at those hotels. Our visit this time was to see what the Museum might have on the old Bethel A.M.E. Church that served Oakland's small African-American community from around 1900 to 1930.
The exhibit rooms in the museum are off to the sides of a narrow central hallway. The hallway is just wide enough to hold a few display cabinets. My hopes went up when I saw that one of them contained items from various churches in Oakland: photos, programs, commemorative/decorative plates, and the like; but alas, there was no sign of the Bethel A.M.E. Church.
There is also an archive at the museum, so I asked the volunteer there (I deeply regret not getting her name so I can give her due credit for her generous help) about the possibility of information about the Bethel A.M.E. Church in the archive. She didn't know about the church itself, but she did know where the general information about churches was located and was soon pulling out folders for me.
And, as they say, "Bingo!":
So there it was. No indication of when or where the photo was taken. A second headscratcher: the building was clearly no longer in Oakland. At some point, it had obviously been removed from town and placed somewhere out in the country, where looked like it was being used as an out-building or shed on a farm.
The Museum's gracious volunteer pulled yet another folder and voilà: another photo envelope with still more photos. But there were two new and even more interesting wrinkles. One photo was a closeup of the building, which, unlike the photo above, included a historical marker that had obviously been added after the earlier photo was taken:
As you might guess, my excitement was growing by leaps and bounds. It was wonderful to realize that the Historical Society had recognized the importance of this modest building. But what had happened?
The only remaining clue in the Historical Museum's archive was a handwritten note in the top left corner of the photo sheet: "Moved from Oakland to Pleasant Valley Swartzentruber farm."
Of course, we had no idea where Pleasant Valley was, but once again, the gracious volunteer at the museum, knew just where it was. She didn't know about the Swartzentruber farm, however, but her advice was that we should simply drive out that way, stop at one of the local shops, and ask.
After a quick lunch in Oakland at Wendy's Towne Restaurant, where the waitress apologized because the only fresh fruit available was freshly picked strawberries—tasted like strawberry-flavored bundles of sugar, they did—we were headed south out of Oakland in search of the Swartzentruber farm and the Bethel AME church building. (Jane is kibitzing editorially over my shoulder because I didn't mention the Oakland Farmer's Market and the jar of ramp mustard she found there. The mustard is sweet; the ramps are not strong at all. In McKean County, PA, we called them "leeks" rather than "ramps.")
Thus fortified, we set out. A few miles out of Oakland, we turned east on one of the side roads and almost immediately saw a sign advertising quilts for sale. Did it say "Amish quilts", or just "Quilts"? I don't remember. A twofer: we could look at some quilts and maybe get some local information to boot. We stopped.
All the action seemed to be in the large garage, which was heavily stocked with what looked to be hardware for nurseries: tubing, plastics and so on. There were several people in the garage and they were pretty clearly either Amish or very conservative Mennonite. (Amish dress varies somewhat from area to area.) After a bit of introductory small talk, Jane asked to see the quilts, which turned out to be inside the house rather than out in the garage. So we repaired to the house and looked at a few quilts (including a very large and beautiful double-wedding ring quilt) and admired from a respectful distance what seemed to be some rather high prices.
Having paid our respects to the quilts and quilters (two Amish women), I proceeded to inquire if they knew anything about an old church building that had been brought out from Oakland to the Swartzentruber farm. They thought a bit and hemmed and hawed and finally said that the story wasn't familiar—not even the Swartzentruber farm part. Then the thought occurred to me to show them the photo of the photo (above) of the Bethel A.M.E. church building I had taken in the historical library just a few hours earlier.
And, as they say, "Bingo!" One of the women said that it looked like one of the buildings "over at John C. Yoder's." And where was John C. Yoder's, please? "Oh you just go back out onto the main road and go south for about a mile and then turn left. It's in there about as far off the main road as we are here."
As politely and calmly as we could, we raced back to our car and politely and calmly raced back to the main road.
The exhibit rooms in the museum are off to the sides of a narrow central hallway. The hallway is just wide enough to hold a few display cabinets. My hopes went up when I saw that one of them contained items from various churches in Oakland: photos, programs, commemorative/decorative plates, and the like; but alas, there was no sign of the Bethel A.M.E. Church.
There is also an archive at the museum, so I asked the volunteer there (I deeply regret not getting her name so I can give her due credit for her generous help) about the possibility of information about the Bethel A.M.E. Church in the archive. She didn't know about the church itself, but she did know where the general information about churches was located and was soon pulling out folders for me.
And, as they say, "Bingo!":
 |
| Photo and label from Garrett County Historical Museum archive |
The Museum's gracious volunteer pulled yet another folder and voilà: another photo envelope with still more photos. But there were two new and even more interesting wrinkles. One photo was a closeup of the building, which, unlike the photo above, included a historical marker that had obviously been added after the earlier photo was taken:
As you might guess, my excitement was growing by leaps and bounds. It was wonderful to realize that the Historical Society had recognized the importance of this modest building. But what had happened?
The only remaining clue in the Historical Museum's archive was a handwritten note in the top left corner of the photo sheet: "Moved from Oakland to Pleasant Valley Swartzentruber farm."
Of course, we had no idea where Pleasant Valley was, but once again, the gracious volunteer at the museum, knew just where it was. She didn't know about the Swartzentruber farm, however, but her advice was that we should simply drive out that way, stop at one of the local shops, and ask.
After a quick lunch in Oakland at Wendy's Towne Restaurant, where the waitress apologized because the only fresh fruit available was freshly picked strawberries—tasted like strawberry-flavored bundles of sugar, they did—we were headed south out of Oakland in search of the Swartzentruber farm and the Bethel AME church building. (Jane is kibitzing editorially over my shoulder because I didn't mention the Oakland Farmer's Market and the jar of ramp mustard she found there. The mustard is sweet; the ramps are not strong at all. In McKean County, PA, we called them "leeks" rather than "ramps.")
Thus fortified, we set out. A few miles out of Oakland, we turned east on one of the side roads and almost immediately saw a sign advertising quilts for sale. Did it say "Amish quilts", or just "Quilts"? I don't remember. A twofer: we could look at some quilts and maybe get some local information to boot. We stopped.
All the action seemed to be in the large garage, which was heavily stocked with what looked to be hardware for nurseries: tubing, plastics and so on. There were several people in the garage and they were pretty clearly either Amish or very conservative Mennonite. (Amish dress varies somewhat from area to area.) After a bit of introductory small talk, Jane asked to see the quilts, which turned out to be inside the house rather than out in the garage. So we repaired to the house and looked at a few quilts (including a very large and beautiful double-wedding ring quilt) and admired from a respectful distance what seemed to be some rather high prices.
Having paid our respects to the quilts and quilters (two Amish women), I proceeded to inquire if they knew anything about an old church building that had been brought out from Oakland to the Swartzentruber farm. They thought a bit and hemmed and hawed and finally said that the story wasn't familiar—not even the Swartzentruber farm part. Then the thought occurred to me to show them the photo of the photo (above) of the Bethel A.M.E. church building I had taken in the historical library just a few hours earlier.
And, as they say, "Bingo!" One of the women said that it looked like one of the buildings "over at John C. Yoder's." And where was John C. Yoder's, please? "Oh you just go back out onto the main road and go south for about a mile and then turn left. It's in there about as far off the main road as we are here."
As politely and calmly as we could, we raced back to our car and politely and calmly raced back to the main road.
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