Marvyn Methodist Church Photos

Sometimes I drive by places for weeks, months, or even years, thinking, "I need to stop and take some photos of this place before it's gone or changes too much." Today, I stopped at a little church on the corner of two rural highways in Marvyn, Alabama, which is just on the southeastern edge of Lee County. I was actually coming from a nearby area where I had been taking photos and was on my way to another place farther down the road. So, Marvyn wasn't on my list today, but it's been on my list for a long, long time.

Lucky for me, just as I got there, some clouds came over the area, and the 100° heat and super harsh light dissipated enough to give me some great colors of the roof.

There is some historical information about the Marvyn Methodist Church on the East Alabama Museum site, so I'll link that here instead of rehashing what their research has shown. It is interesting to note that the area was apparently not called Marvyn until 1874, when Marvyn United Methodist Church was built in honor of Methodist Bishop Marvyn, and the community name followed the building of the church.

Inside Marvyn Church

This particular church is not what I would call an "abandoned" building. It's well taken care of, the grass is always mowed in the summer, and the doors are always locked (as they were today). I have never been able to tell if there are any services held in the church or not, but the inside is clean and well cared for, especially seeing that it has sat at this location for almost 150 years! I wish I had a chance to go inside and shoot where I could do a proper job of setting up and framing, but the view from the outside had to do today. If anyone from Marvyn ever happens to read this and could open the church for me to shoot just let me know, I'll be right there.

Shooting Film on a Graflex

One unique thing I was able to do on this day was take some medium format film photos using my granddad's Graflex camera (circa 1950s). It was the first time I had ever run a roll of film through the Graflex since receiving it years ago. I took the entire camera apart, cleaned the lens elements, the focus glass, the housing, and so on, and put new light seals in the 120 film roll backs my granddad used sometime back in the 50's and 60's. Then I actually shot real film through the camera. I don't have that roll of film back yet, but when I do, I will link back to this post.

Marvyn Exterior

On my way out I did get what ended up being one of my favorite shots of the day, my truck in front of the church. The contrast between colors and old verses new just caught me as an amazing look at 150 years of history. This church was built before cars. That itself is amazing.

Coming up I'll have more images from this particular day, which includes a an old cotton gin and some gas signs from 100 years ago. Stay tuned.

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