Editor’s note: The Columbus Spring Pilgrimage is known as one of the most outstanding home tours in the South. The upcoming 76th annual Pilgrimage will feature impressive antebellum homes, Tales from the Crypt, entertaining events and other interesting sights to see, like the Rosewood Chapel.
Grayce and Dewitt Hicks never set out to acquire a chapel. When they drove from their antebellum home in Columbus one morning about 25 years ago to an auction in Baldwyn, they were not in the market for a church.
The auction site was an older house, large, white and columned; its owner was advanced in years. The little family chapel on the grounds wasn’t even on the sale list. It was propped on blocks. The roof had holes; the flooring was damaged. Repairs were needed inside and out. The stained glass windows, however, were intact and glorious. The Hicks were captivated. More than that, they felt compelled to save the unique structure estimated to now be at least 125 years old, so they approached the homeowner. That gentleman, in his 90s, had a strong attachment to the historic plantation chapel, too; he had reportedly moved it four times during his life as he had relocated. He was pleased someone wanted to restore and preserve it.
“We just really fell in love with it when we first saw it,” said Dewitt Hicks.
His wife added, “We bought it not knowing where we’d put it or how we’d get it there.”
Where to put it became clear almost as soon as the couple returned to Columbus, to their home listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Rosewood Manor (c. 1835).
“This was the natural spot, the only spot it should go,” Grayce Hicks said, meaning the chapel’s current location almost immediately behind their home.
Getting it there turned out to be more problematic. When the mover engaged to relocate the chapel reached the Rosewood entrance on Seventh Street North, the transport trailer got “hung up,” too wide to fit through the drive’s iron gates. Posts and gates had to come down, backing up traffic for some time. The result, though, has entranced tour visitors for years.
“The chapel has such a strength to it when you first walk in,” said Shirley Cullum who will hostess there during the Columbus Pilgrimage March 28 through April 9. “I think about the enduring quality of the chapel and about the many prayers that have been said here for so many years. It’s a very sacred place.”
Within the walls
Visitors enter the chapel through a charmingly small antechamber or vestibule, only two or three steps deep. In the intimate chapel itself, three short white pews occupy each side. They are original to the structure, which can accommodate approximately 18 to 20 people.
Fittings and adornments were collected with care, many of them in the United Kingdom after the chapel was moved to Columbus. They include a wall hanging inspired by da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” and antique candelabra. A thick, heavy Bible on the pulpit is more than three centuries old. The Hicks found it in Edinburgh, Scotland.
A very recent addition is a large depiction of Christ in stained glass, more than 100 years old. Lighting installed behind it illuminates the serene image.
In Columbus, the chapel has been the site of 19 weddings and several christenings, most of those for the Hicks’ grandchildren. And about once a week, said Grayce Hicks, she and her husband stroll out to the chapel, where she will play the organ and the couple will pray together.
“It’s been a special place for us, where we really enjoy prayer and meditation,” said Dewitt Hicks. “It helps us put in focus why we’re here on this earth — to glorify God and serve others.”
The Columbus couple feel blessed and lucky to have unexpectedly come across this piece of the past when they did.
“We didn’t go looking for a chapel,” said Grayce Hicks. “This chapel found us.”
GET READY FOR PILGRIMAGE
For more information on tours, events and tickets, go to visitcolumbusms.org, call 800-920-3533 or 662-329-1191 or pick up a brochure at the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau, 117 Third St. S. Some events are free.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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