For years I’ve listened to older friends and family members talking about “tabernacle revivals” and “brush arbor meetings.” Both fascinated me. I’ve attended a funeral service in a tabernacle, but never a revival. I decided to include one such service in a book I’m writing.
Since there are still plenty of the old tabernacle type structures in my neck of the woods I ventured out of my writing cave to photograph two of them for research. One’s next to a church, the other is next to a cemetery.
It wasn’t hard to lose myself in the moment as I worked—I could imagine the hymns, the heat, the old-style clothing, even the old-style preaching. As a writer, I have to be able to create “memories” I never actually experienced. I’m grateful every day for the opportunity to do that. Hope you like the photos.
