Standing behind its cemetery, this once little, now much larger, church is essentially the entire community of Cedonia, save for a couple of nearby farmsteads. At most, the community was once comprised of a store and post office, a school (a half mile east) and a couple of houses. The school closed in the 1950s and the post office and store followed in 1974. Cedonia Community Church was built in 1897, opening for services in the summer of that year, completely free of debt. Labor and materials, as well as many small gifts of cash, were donated, as was the land for the church and the original cemetery. The church was built as, and remains to this day, a "Union" church, open to all denominations.
In what could be referred to as a narthex on the north side of the original sanctuary is a small museum, definitely the first we've encountered which is attached to an active church. It holds many items of local historical interest, both in display cabinets and mounted on the walls of the room. When we visited the church was undergoing renovations, explaining the condition of the museum as seen in the accompanying photos, as well as the disarray on the exterior of the building. While the church's museum is not advertised at all, it receives periodic mention in the
Church's Blog, recounting the donation of some new artefact, or artefacts, to the museum from time to time. It's not yet known for how long the church has included a museum, but the earliest mention of it occurs in the oldest blog entries, in 2010.
The present Pastor, Ed Dashiell, is very friendly and very accommodating, reprinting some historical material for us, relating an oral history of the church and community, even ringing the bell for us (without our even requesting that he do so).