THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 24, 1995 TAG: 9503220105
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
It's a little early to be talking about Christmas, considering spring just got here.
But I couldn't help thinking about the possibilities for a really fine holiday event as I sat listening to the wonderful concert by the Virginia Choral Society at Trinity Church last Friday.
Deborah Carr, Monumental United Methodist Church music director, also is artistic director of the choral group. I first encountered members of the singing society in December on opening day of the new Children's Museum. Carr and about eight of the singers were the street carolers hired by the Olde Towne Association.
That explains the leap in my mind from spring to Christmas.
Portsmouth has abandoned the Olde Towne Lighting and, in recent years, the museums have not had the miniature shows that attracted so many out-of-town visitors. A parade just isn't the magnet to draw visitors to Olde Towne.
The Olde Towne Lighting had unlimited potential, given the right organization and promotion. But after the first couple of years, I never felt anybody was trying to attract visitors.
We need something to replace the lighting, an event somewhat unique to Portsmouth.
Since the Portsmouth Music Club's Music for an Olde Towne Afternoon has been a successful event, why not have a variation on that idea for the holidays?
We could package Christmas music, history and our wonderful church architecture for a Christmas musical tour.
The tour could be scheduled on a Sunday afternoon because the sanctuaries already have been heated for services, lowering the cost to the congregations.
At each church, members could offer visitors the historical nuggets each congregation contributed to its denomination and to Portsmouth.
In the sanctuaries the churches could present Christmas music presented by members of their choirs or outside groups.
This could become a wonderful annual event that could be ever expanding in its reach to the public. I would like for admission to be free but I could understand if we decided to charge $2 or so help to defray costs.
A few years before her death, Catherine Hatcher pushed for and got a one-time-only tour of Olde Towne churches. Hatcher, an artist, also was Monumental's historian. That tour means some ground work already has been done for a Christmas tour and those who put it together would not have to start at the beginning.
Few places anywhere have the amount of religious history that is concentrated within a few blocks in Portsmouth.
Dating to 1761, Trinity Episcopal was the first congregation, but it didn't take long before the Methodists and Baptists organized and also made history in Portsmouth.
Monumental Methodist, formed in 1772, was Virginia's first Methodist Society and lays undisputed claim to being ``the oldest Methodist church in the South.''
Court Street Baptist came along in 1789 as Norfolk-Portsmouth Baptist Church, started by a group from Churchland Baptist organized in 1795. Subsequently, the Downtown church became the ``mother'' of any number of Baptist congregations in Norfolk and Portsmouth.
Emanuel AME Church on North Street, where the wooden pews were hewn by slaves, dates to 1772.
But Downtown is home to many more congregations and magnificent edifices.
St. Paul's Catholic Church, dating back to 1865, is housed in a cathedral-like building that was built over a seven-year period beginning in 1898. St. John's Episcopal, formed in 1848, has an authentic Tiffany window. Zion Baptist, organized in 1865, is another of the historic black congregations Downtown.
The spire on First Presbyterian, which dates to 1822, is one of those on the Portsmouth skyline. President Grover Cleveland's father was pastor of that church in the 1870s, when the church began the move to its present location.
The fact is, Portsmouth has beautiful buildings, good choirs and a lot of history. Why shouldn't we make it part of our celebration of Christmas? by CNB