This story in the local paper, “Discovering a community’s history from a holy place” – The Examiner, 8/24/06, reminded me of a childhood friend whose family’s “summer house” was an abandoned church in East Shelby.

While she was there, the only way that I could visit was to ride my bike, a journey of about ten miles one way. If memory serves, the route went out of town along Albion Road, through the federal wildlife refuge, then left onto East Shelby Road. I mapped the southern portion of Orleans County that summer using data collected from my exploratory bike rides.

Their church wasn’t very renovated, as I recall. The pews were pushed up in a huge cluster along one wall on the lower level. There was a choir loft upstairs and several meeting rooms along one side of the sanctuary. And, of course, there was a kitchen, like good churches have.

About all I remember doing during my visits was weeding their garden and going for more bike rides. There wasn’t much else to do. Certainly no cable television.