June 16, 2003

Community celebrates Belfry's 'new beginning'

By Lucy Schultze
The Oxford Eagle

    More than 200 people gathered Saturday afternoon to celebrate
plans to restore the historic Burns "Belfry" Church on West Jackson
Avenue.
    "We had a wonderful time," Cynthia Parham said. "The weather
held up, people came and we couldn't have been more excited."
    Those in attendance donated more than $300 to the restoration
effort, but the real aim of Saturday's gathering was to spread the
word about the Belfry's bright future.
    Preservationists with the Oxford-Lafayette County Heritage
Foundation together with members of the Oxford Development
Association, an African-American community group, have committed to
restoring the 1910 structure for use as a meeting place and cultural
center.
    The building stands on the site where ex-slave first built
their own house of worship. Its congregation left for a larger
building in the 1970s, and since then it has been partitioned into
office space. It has deteriorated since being vacant for the past
four years.

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