Myron B. Pitts: Hurricane Florence’s heavy rains damage historic Evans church

Oct. 06--Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church on North Cool Spring Street downtown is the oldest church in the city and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

But members are now grappling with historic flooding of the sanctuary from last month's Hurricane Florence. Many are seniors who have worshipped at the church for decades or all of their lives.

"Seeing it damaged, it brought, really, tears," says Dr. Charles N. Darden, who is in his second year as pastor of the church. "Because I know a lot has been put into trying to maintain it. It was a sadness, really.

"We have quite a few senior members. It took a toll on them. They have a lot of memories here."

Restoration work on the church could take from a year to a year-and-a-half, Darden says.

The church still has use of its education wing. The Sunday after the storm, church members held morning service at a Murchison Road funeral home. They have since been having service and other meetings at Hood Memorial AME Zion Church on Rosehill Road.

Darden says he sees God's hand at work in how the partnership between the sister churches has worked out. Hood members meet in a newer sanctuary, and the Evans members meet in the older sanctuary. No parking or other issues have arisen, says Darden.

Evans' members will celebrate Founders Day next Sunday, Oct. 14, marking when the church was chartered in 1801; the current building has stood since 1893. Hood and Evans members will worship together for the service where the speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Kenneth Monroe, presiding A.M.E. bishop of the Eastern North Carolina District.

"We have made a beautiful transition," Darden says. "Everything lined up. We don't conflict."

Worst since 1945

Florence's heavy rainwater, which fell for days, penetrated Evans' sanctuary, causing the damage, says Darden. In addition to the sanctuary, the water heavily damaged the church's outreach building, a wood structure just south of the building, near Cross Creek.

Hurricane Matthew in 2016 caused some issues for the church, but nothing like Florence.

Darden and other church leaders walked through the sanctuary on the Tuesday after Florence, and again the following day.

He says the second walk-through revealed the full scope of the damage.

"We had a lot of shingles that were all on the ground, just everywhere," he said.

The water "came from the top and just gushed down."

There was mold and a gross smell. The plaster on the walls had puckered. Total losses include the women's and men's restrooms, choir and ministerial robes and items from the communion table.

This past Thursday, restoration workers had a huge tube plugged into a back entrance trying to air the church out. Church trustees who walked over to consult with the workers had to mask up each time.

Inside the sanctuary, Darden said, "It looks like a ghost town."

Lifelong member John Jones, who is 85, says he has seen flooding of the church property like this one other time -- in 1945 when he was 12. That was the year the Cape Fear River flooded much of downtown.

"There was more water than this time," he says.

Jones' family owned a house up on Ann Street, where it intersects Lamon Street. He remembers that family members contemplated moving as the waters flooded the Cross Creek cemeteries and came up to their front yard.

As for Florence: "The only thing I can say, it was an act of God."

He says he has personally not been overly emotional about what happened and believes the trustees -- who are responsible for the building's upkeep -- are "doing a find job with the work that has to be done."

Some members he said were worried about the money that will be needed to restore the church.

"A lot of members have been praying to that effect," he says.

Restoration

Darden says the church is trying to get most of the restoration work paid for by insurance, with some grants from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office, which works with the property owner and the National Register of Historic Places.

Historic property officials are working with the contractors on the restoration to make sure the repairs comply with historic standards.

Darden and James Judkins, the head trustee, said the standards for inside a building are not generally as strict as the ones that govern the facade and outside. Jerkins said the church could not even get cleared to build a shed on its property visible from the road.

But to members, the richness of church history outweighs any burdens.

Henry Evans, a free, African-American shoemaker and Methodist minister, founded the congregation and established Methodism in the city for the first time. His services drew both black and white worshippers.

Dr. Annette C. Billie, an Evans member since 1968 and author of a church history, says Evans risked his life to spread the faith, at one point having to swim through Cross Creek to escape a white mob. She said the church's role in preserving history is vital.

"We need to retain and restore all of the history we can for our youth," Billie says. "They need to have a working knowledge of where they are on Sunday morning, other than just being in Sunday service."

Bishop James Walker Hood served as pastor of Evans in the 1800s, was a giant in the education of African Americans and was one of the founders of Fayetteville State University. He is the namesake of Hood Memorial church.

The Evans church story through the years is carefully preserved in an upstairs archive in the education wing, where displays include pictures, videotapes, collected papers and encased glass hangings of past members' military uniforms and church clothes. There is even a mannequin outfitted with a dapper suit and pipe -- a tribute to Brother Walter Drake, who is still living and a member at 105 years old.

Darden says the church has around 330 members on the rolls and between 100 to 110 who attend regularly on Sunday. He transferred to Evans from a congregation in Knoxville, Tennessee.

He praised Evans' members' resilience and said the congregation will endure, and thrive.

While Florence-related damaged disrupted its ministry of feeding more than 100 people on Wednesday mornings, members are making plans to assist another church in a similar outreach.

He says that when Florence happened, the church had already been involved in a different kind of restoration -- a spiritual one.

Darden says: "We're restoring the church in terms of its spiritually, its focus on really getting the church back on target of the Biblical mandate of making disciples."

Columnist Myron B. Pitts can be reached at [email protected] or 910-486-3559.

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