St. Andrew's Prairieville Fall Homecoming Service includes Confirmations and Baptism

A baptism and six confirmations highlighted this fall’s St. Andrew’s Prairieville Homecoming Oct. 6.  Nearby Trinity Demopolis hosted a visit to the historic church by the Rt. Rev. Santosh Marray, the Diocese of Alabama’s assistant bishop.

Mark Bedsole, Rob Davis, Ivy Dodgen, Blain Hawkins and Della Hawkins (all of Trinity, Demopolis) and Stephen McNair (Church of the Ascension, Montgomery) were confirmed.  Lennon Phillips of Trinity was baptized.

Although the St. Andrew’s does not house an active parish, services are held there once or twice a year.  The red board-and-batten Carpenter Gothic Revival-style church belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama and has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.

 St. Andrew's was organized as a mission in 1834 to serve the settlers who mostly came from the Atlantic Seaboard. The church became a parish in the Diocese of Alabama in 1844. The current church building was constructed in 1853. The church, featuring wooden buttresses and large door hung on strap iron hinges, is virtually unaltered with original pews, organ and stained glass.

 The church is situated in Gallion, Ala., formerly the community of Prairieville.