121 Year Old Church Is On The Move

A church from the 1890s is being disassembled and moved to Chapel Hill this month.

For more than 120 years St. Phillips Church has been in Germanton, a small town north of Winston-Salem. Now, the Episcopal Church of the Advocate is bringing it to Chapel Hill. Reverend Lisa Fischbeck says the unconventional move will cost about $250,000.

Fischbeck continues, "A lot of times when I will say we are moving the church people assume that means our congregation is leaving Chapel Hill Carrboro. And instead I say ‘no, no, we’re moving the church building to where the people are’. I’ve been in sort of amazement on several occasions."

The roof and bell tower will be removed from the Church before it is transported. There was some resistance to removing the church from Germanton, but the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina chose to move the building to a congregation that needs it instead of letting it sit empty.