Celebrating A Meeting Place

by Will Berger

Members and friends of Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church donned suits, hats, even overalls and other century old clothing on the first Sunday of May to celebrate a century old meeting place. The place was the stone fence that encompasses the church yard. One of the many stone fences that give character to the Williamson county landscape, the fence was quarried and finished May 5, 1904 by Courtney Hodge and his father Joshua for “lovers of stone work to admire.”

In the style of our ancestors, 100 years ago.
Photo: Hugh Tharpe

But the fence has been much more than something to admire. It has been a place where the town and church has gathered for years on one of the town’s busiest corners. Stories were told about hundreds of Williamson County boys who boarded the bus during World War II headed for boot camp, and of farm workers who would wait for their ride for the days’ work. One member shared how as children she and others played on the fence every Sunday after being warned by parents not to play on it. One of their games was to push each other off so that they could watch their playmates try to explain skinned knees and stained dresses to their parents.

The long fence wall for many years has provided a place where people have sat for parades and festivals at what is called Five Points, which is at the center of downtown Franklin. In the sermon for the day the story was told of a family that had moved into town and met the pastors’ family during the city’s Spring Main Street festival. They were Presbyterians, and when they heard that the church’s confirmation class was beginning the next Sunday, their daughter enrolled, joined the church, and the family followed suit.

Of course the old fence has seen many positive changes over the century. One of the pastors jokingly pointed out that as a woman she would not even have been leading worship in that place a century earlier. The sermon for the day noted that walls and fences can pose a challenge to God’s people. They can keep people out, or they can become the occasion to invite them in. The good news was that church people had made the fence a meeting place, a place where they could reach out to the community.

After worship, those gathered enjoyed a meal together (complete with a “wall” cake), then joined to listen to memories of those who had sat on the fence and seen life pass by, and concluded with a hymnsing, where both hymns from the past and new hymns were enjoyed.