THE LITTLE CHURCH OUT IN THE COUNTRY
By Scott Briggs, Cave City
As told by Greg Briggs and Kim Gossett, Cave City
Many people in this area do the same thing every Sunday, go to church, and most of those churches are located within towns and have running water, heating and cooling, and bathrooms. Gregg Briggs and Kim Gossett have attended Shady Grove Church of Christ, located in the countryside just outside Cave City, their entire lives. This church is the definition of what an old country church is. Over 100 years old, it was for many years just a one-room church, and only within the last few years have running water, bathrooms, and central heating and cooling been installed. A rich history and many stories lie within the walls of this old building where many generations have come and gone.
Because Shady Grove is out in the country, there are country roads that must be crossed to get there. The church is located on Toohey Ridge Road which has a very steep hill that must be climbed in order to get to the church. The hill isn't a problem in most seasons, but as one would figure, in the winter when it snows, the hill can be quite an obstacle. Nowadays when it snows, church service is cancelled, and members go to either Cave City Church of Christ or Horse Cave Church of Christ, but many years ago the members tried very hard to meet every single Sunday. Greg and Kim remember that everyone who lived on the foot side of the hill tried their hardest to get up it. Eventually everyone who was stuck there climbed in with the person who had the best car for snow and finally made it up the hill. They would always be late but would be there just in time for the lesson.
Greg and Kim both remember many things about the church and the people who went there. As children, they attended nearly every Sunday, missing only if one of them had a case of the chicken pox or the like. When the two were children, the church had around forty-five to fifty members, around six of them being kids their age, and no regular preacher. Four members took turns rotating each Sunday as to who delivered the lesson of the week, with Greg's father, Earnest Briggs, and his great uncle George Toohey being two of the four regulars and Kim's brother presenting a lesson a few times. Once or maybe twice the one who was to speak on a particular Sunday forgot that it was his turn, so the church just read a short excerpt of scripture and sang . . . and sang a lot. The two of them remember one time when Edwin Isenberg, one of the four in rotation, was preaching and a wasp got up inside his pant leg stinging him three times. Edwin never flinched and continued delivering his message. No one but Edwin knew until he told about it after church let out. After many years the church decided to seek a full time preacher and hired Billy Bybee, who is still preaching there after thirty years of service.
The church many years ago had great singing, according to both Kim and Greg. They both reminisced to back when Greg's father, Earnest, led singing with his great uncle George singing bass. The two of them have very strong memories of the singing with Greg saying, "The singing was great back when I was growing up. Daddy would lead, and Uncle George sang a mean bass."
The members of Shady Grove were more like a second family for everyone there. When a member got sick, the other members got the person get well soon cards and food. Greg spoke on when his father Earnest was diagnosed with cancer and the love and care the church showed for him and the family throughout that troublesome experience.
He said members brought lots of food and remembers specifically that Claudie Isenberg, who owned some chickens, brought fresh eggs every week.
Some of the humorous memories the two share revolve around Greg's brother, William. When they were all kids, William was the wild one.
Both Kim and Greg remember the time when William caught a wasp on the window with a song book, took out its stinger, tied a piece of thread from his sock, and flew the poor wasp like a kite. They also remember the time William made a spit ball and thumped it all the way from the back row to the second row, hitting someone in the back of the head.
Kim, Greg, William, and Kim's brother Adrian sometimes after services let out would run to the back of the building where they would play tag football until their parents were done talking with the rest of the members. One very humorous time Greg told about regarding William's crazy antics was that one time a member offered to give a quarter to William if he would go inside the outhouse, which at the time was full of wasps. Without hesitation, William ran into the outhouse and as a result got his quarter. This made Greg very jealous as back when they were kids a quarter was worth much more than it is now. On the way home, Greg was upset, so his Grandmother Denison gave Greg a quarter for being smart enough to not go inside the outhouse.
This is only a small part of the history of Shady Grove Church of Christ through the eyes of Greg Briggs and Kim Gossett. The church is still very much in existence with around 35 to 40 members attending services each week. The two mentioned that they looked around the building during the services a few Sundays ago and noticed there were only about three or four people left besides themselves from back when they were children. The building is no longer just a one-room church--it now has two classrooms, an auditorium, a lobby, and two bathrooms. The church meets every Sunday, and Greg Briggs and Kim Gossett still attend to this day.
From the
"Broomsedge Chronicles", WKU via Sandi Gorin |
KY Pfc Inf. WW II
