... and the Lord take it.

[Mike Handley]

There are no flowers, real or faded plastic, within the small untended graveyard off Louisiana's Hwy. 135 between Rayville and Alto. No sign marks the turnoff onto the shotgun lot, and no fence encircles the few hand-chiseled headstones.

The graves occupy one corner of the property where the Poplar Chapel A.M.E. Church stood for more than 100 years. The old building's spine snapped about two weeks after I photographed it, and the heart pine and cypress bones have since been scavenged.

One of the graves belongs to the Rev. W.L. Landum -- born Dec. 16, 1852; died July 5, 1907. Below his particulars is this message:

THE LORD GIVE IT

AND THE LORD

TAKE IT. BLESSIT

BE THE NAME OF

THE LORD

And then there was one

If there is a written history of the church, it's probably recorded on jaundiced pages inside a Bible, tattered by now and very likely not in Louisiana.

Though hardly ornate by today's standards, houses of worship built by black sharecroppers were like palaces compared to their homes. Many of the structures fell to ruin when machinery devoured the 50-cent-a-week jobs as efficiently as it ate cotton, soybeans and corn.

The congregations simply moved north, where steel-making required strong backs and sweat.

Most churches that survived were eventually bricked over or knocked down and replaced. Prior to its demise, Poplar Chapel was one of only two Pre-World War I rural black churches standing in Louisiana.

In remembrance

My friend, Cecil, knew I'd burn at least one roll of film when he showed me the swaybacked church not far from his home. As there hadn't been a sign during the many years he'd lived nearby, he couldn't tell me its name.

I went digging tonight.

I found a couple of deeply buried photographs and a reference to the "Popular" Chapel Church's being added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1989, when it was 86 years old. One account claims the entire building was turned to face the new blacktop when it was laid in 1926.

Whoever built it followed no blueprint; it was patched together like a quilt, or Johnny Cash's pilfered Cadillac -- one piece at a time, using elements of many architectural styles.

[Jared Handley]

This is great in so many ways. Maybe my favorite thing I've read on this site ever.

[Mike Handley]

Thanks, G & T. Life is now complete. Here are a couple of the many photos I took that day, as well as the only two I found via Googling ...

[Teresa]

HOW did I MISS this? I'm in love. I'm in love with this piece, both the painting and prose. I want to crawl inside the painting, float in the pastel sky. I can't explain why this painting speaks to me but love every brush stroke.

[Gita]

When I first saw the photo in black and white of this swaybacked building, I thought of a clipper shi or flying Dutchman with sails being pushed by wind more than wood and plaster. The church was leaning in so many directions at once that it seemed to break laws of physics. I love the fact that you were its archaeologist who went digging deep to find the bones and scrolls that would speak of its history. Simply lovely, Mike.

[Mike Handley]

Thanks, guys and gals. I'll come back in tonight and post a couple of photos to show you one of the tombstones and the church. This has been fun for me.

[Jamie Hogan]

The light in this - both the painting and the words - is captivating. You mingle history and sentiment so deftly, it's like you're a time traveler. Beautiful in so many ways.

[Glen Green]

This is a ghost story with life - muted colors, half-echoes of bygone celebrations, mournful, beautiful. i love the painting. I get a sense of your eye and your heart in this, Mike. Great.

[Sandra Davies]

How well you've caught the winteriness of the sky - I saw winter there before I saw the bare branches

[Bill Floyd]

This series of "road trips with cecil" stories strike me as restorative in the best way. We all feel a twinge of nostalgia/intrigue/vague yearning when we pass by these places on our way to somewhere else, but you've done the work, researched the background, and captured them in a manner that returns them to the world with renewed vibrancy. Lucky us.

[michael r. oconnor]

This made me wonder just how many of these forgotten places there are in the rural areas of the country?You portrayed this with great insight. Very nice.