History

Do Episcopalians Know Their Apse From Their Narthex?
Or
We Might Have Been a Doorknob or Three Baked Potatoes.
We Might Have Been a Bag Full of Hard Green Tomatoes!

Well, not exactly.

Truth to tell, the campus on which the church sits started out as a tripartite block, which easily might have become something other than St. Anne’s Episcopal Church. But, not so: the land came together to have the approximate 11 acres with which we began.

The “point”— the triangle of Moore’s Mill and Northside Parkway— was being considered for a zoning change to build a 7-11 store. The present Day School Administration building was initially a four-room Fulton County School, then a 4-unit apartment building, and then remodeled into the first church building. The third parcel was on the curve between the now named St. Anne’s Lane (previously School Drive) and the playground, where a gentleman lived in a house trailer. Because of a small surveying error the vestry asked (With a little more help, all the work will be done. They need one more cat. And I know just the one.) the Expansion Committee chair to acquire this disputed section, which had been deeded to the Seventh Day Adventist Church. The buy was negotiated, solving the property line conflict. A local businessman said that the new St. Anne’s had achieved — with its cobbled together land purchases — “the biggest bargain in the city of Atlanta.”

How was our name chosen? A parishioner spent summers and Christmas at her grandparent’s farm in Delaware. As a child she drove by Old St. Anne’s, a brick and boarded up “peacefully beautiful” church. And so, remembering one of her favorite spots she suggested “St. Anne’s” at the first meeting that was held to start the mission, and the group selected it unanimously. St. Anne’s, Delaware, is named after England’s Queen Anne. Our St Anne’s is named after Mary’s mother, Anne. (Old St. Anne’s, now restored, celebrated its 300th anniversary in June 2005.)

In 1959 Rilman Road divided the newly acquired property, running to Moores Mill Rd., for a length of 450 feet. The Church petitioned the City Council for closure; very unhappy neighbors had to be placated. The Atlanta Constitution wrote that this “stirred hot protests from residents of the area,” and the local alderman urged Mayor Hartsfield to veto the action. The mayor refused and altho the immediate landowners threatened legal action, the street was closed. There was a later and smaller to-do when School Drive was renamed St. Anne’s Lane.

St. Anne’s property was 1000 feet deep measured from where the south end of the Day School building is now. So when the Atlanta Speech School wanted more depth to their property, they came to the church, which owned the land behind them. In the trade the church got additional frontage on New Marietta Rd., renamed Northside Parkway in 1960. And in the mid eighties this acreage was allotted to St. Anne’s Terrace.

All through with the searching! All through with the looking! I had all I needed! And now for the cooking!:

Many building and renovation projects took place in the next 40 years to give us the plant and grounds we have today. Parking lots were built or expanded, necessary because of congregational growth and to give the Terrace the parking area behind the Day School. In 1986 a parking lot was built adjacent to Moore’s Mill, above the church, clearing a heavily wooded area to make up for the loss to The Terrace. Most recently a pathway has been constructed so one can easily walk out to that triangular point that might have become a 7-11.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go!:

For the 50th Semi-Centennial, 2004-5 we published and displayed history, had fine parties, and enjoyed ourselves as we contemplated our fifty years. But there is a deeper issue about our existence, which makes us a Christian church independent of our buildings and property. We shelter in the nave[i] of the church in worship and learning and companionship, a refuge and retreat from disturbances of life, truly our sanctuary. But we can’t stay — and we know this —the church building and land is a place to go into and come out of. And in our going in and coming out, we follow the cross, literally and figuratively. The cross precedes the procession into the church by clergy and choir.

There is the St. Anne’s cross behind the altar, the focus of the sanctuary. We are forgiven and blessed with the sign of the cross; we sign ourselves with it and wear it and bow to it. When the Gospel is read it is the cross that goes first and before, down to be with the people. At the end of the Gospel reading the Bible is respectfully stepped aside, and the cross is first carried back up the chancel steps while the congregation and clergy stand quietly, and wait and then follow. The sermon does not begin until it is back in place. And most importantly, at the end of the service it is the cross, carried high, that leads us out of the sheltering nave. The congregation turns as the cross goes by because it is that cross that we follow, not the clergy, or the choir — it is the cross, and the cross only. We love our church buildings, significant spaces, where we have been married and buried and loved. We come for solace, understanding, friendship and sustenance, but then, as we should, we go (three of the four dismissals have the verb “go” in them). In the post-communion prayer we ask God to send us and we process into the world, leaving our campus, following and carrying the cross, our distinction, to come back again and repeat this act of Christian faith.

Wake Up! For Today is your Day of all Days!:

With great enjoyment of Dr. Seuss, we can celebrate who we have been, who we have become and where we are. St. Anne’s is a splendid church, with a rich history, surely just beginning. We can bless each other, and ourselves by declaring each May as we celebrate our founding:

Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!
Shout loud, “I am lucky to be what I am!
Thank goodness I’m not just a clam or a ham
Or a dusty old jar of sour gooseberry jam!
I am what I am! That’s a great thing to be!
If I say so myself, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!”

A question asked by Donna Harvey, a witty and renowned writer of the parish who edited the parish newsletter in the 1960's. Donna also wrote, while writing an educational series for the newsletter, "Although we can hardly wait to get on to the next of the Seven Deadly Sins, Lust, we must, as promised in the last issue, first cope with Wrath." Donna and Dick moved to the state of Washington in 1977. Donna died in 1990. What a loss.
This and other (odd?) references here and there are from Happy Birthday to You! by Dr. Seuss or other Dr. Seuss books.
Nave is from the Latin word navis for ship because the shape is similar to an inverted hull.