Mike Parker: Historic church and local people appear in online video
If you type “Ed Terry The Circuit Riding Preacher” into a Google or YouTube search, you will arrive at a link to a video that features a historic church in Lenoir County: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGn0l7ovnnc
Ed Terry, a Renaissance man whose interests included writing songs and novels as well as filming videos, visited our area in October 2011. Lonnie Blizzard gave him a tour of historic areas, including a brief stop at the New Beaverdam Primitive Baptist Church building.
Ed was already mulling over a video for the song “The Circuit Riding Preacher” by Tim Spencer when he saw the old church building. He was intrigued. He came back on November 18 to assess the building. He thought it would be a perfect place to film.
But first, a little background is in order. Ed was born in Durham, NC, in 1949. His grandfather, Edward Garrett, was a professional musician during the Great Depression. Ed spent hours in his grandfather’s country store listening to him play the violin and banjo. The words of the old songs touched something in Ed’s soul.
As Ed grew up, he ventured into country music and rock ‘n roll. After a while, he chiefly concentrated on bluegrass and the other two kinds of music – country and western. He made a living as an airline captain, but as he approached retirement, he wanted to spend more time working on his music.
What about the New Beaverdam Primitive Baptist Church building?
On Sept. 11, 2010, the Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting after placing the New Beaverdam church building on the site of Harriet’s Chapel. Harriet’s Chapel served as a hospital during the First Battle of Kinston. This chapel, built in the mid-1750’s, was destroyed during the First Battle of Kinston in December 1862. The hail of bullets from both Confederate and Union forces decimated the building.
New Beaverdam Primitive Baptist Church was built around the 1860’s and served as a functioning Baptist church until the 1950’s. The one-room church building was moved from Goodman Road to an area in Kinston Battlefield Park off U.S. 258 South in June of 2010. This church building, remarkably like the original Harriet’s Chapel, has been interpreted as Harriet’s Chapel during local Civil War living history events.
Dr. Blizzard and Ed kept in close touch for months as they worked out the scenes and completed the legwork required to shoot a video. Challenges included finding “extras” for the church service scene and gathering a choir to join Ed when “The Circuit Riding Preacher” transitioned to familiar hymns.
Kinston and Lenoir County easily provided both voices and extras. Watch the video to see if you spot any locals you know.
The video creates an old-timey feel. In the opening sequence, Ed rides in on a horse, passing a horse-drawn cart with its horsepower still in the traces. The inside of the church is stark, like most country churches of that period. The audio quality is excellent. I am not sure how long the choir practiced for the video, but the harmonies reminded me of choirs singing during services I attended in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Please take a moment to visit the link I provided. You will be gratified to find that our city and county provided the backdrop for such a talented artist.
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
