CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In the midst of clean-up efforts, people in one Clarksville neighborhood are sharing how they've lost a true piece of history: a building that's stood far longer than any of us have been around.
"My parents bought a house here in 1963, and we joined the church in 1965," said Pam McBride, unlocking a door and walking into Little West Fork Baptist Church on Britton Springs Rd. in Clarksville.
"This is the sanctuary," she said, walking through a place that's long brought comfort to her.
"You can come in here and everything is just as it should be," Pam continued.
It's a place of calm and quiet in the midst of what's just outside.
Pam was at home in the church parsonage Saturday when her family got the alert. Tornado. They ran into a bathroom within seconds of the windows shattering feet away.
"It felt like our whole house was just rising," Pam remembered. "Then, it was just calm. It was done."
What Pam found as she walked out was damage all around her Britton Springs Road home. A tree had fallen on a neighbor's house. Businesses across the street were leveled. There was another place damaged that also hurt Pam to see.
"I looked up and this church is gone," she said.
The original Little West Fork Baptist Church building, a true piece of Tennessee history, was crushed.
"It's about 205-years-old," Pam said. "It's devastating. It was originally at the end of Britton Springs Rd, and it was brought down here on logs and oxen."
Pam said the original building hasn't been used at all in the past 10 years, as the congregation has long moved into the newer, bigger church building next to it. The current building has damage to the roof and water damage to rooms, but Pam is hopeful her congregation can return soon. Despite all that's happened around her and what happened to the historic church building, Pam sees so much that's uplifting.
"Good samaritans!" she said, walking outside the church as people worked to chainsaw trees and haul away debris. "This man just came up in my yard and asked, 'Can I help?' It is so reassuring. As many bad things as you see all the time, there is so much good in the world. There are people who have lost their home, but they're coming to help me get things out of mine. God is working. He really is."
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
