Carrollton Presbyterian Church

What do you think?  For the past few months, that’s been an important question we’ve been asking at CPC.   Thanks to all who participated in the Carrollton Presbyterian Church, “Your Opinion Counts: Planning our future together – The Power of We” assessment.We had an amazing response– over two thirds of people who were asked to participate took time to fill out the thirty-minute member survey.  To make sure everyone had a voice, Mary Woodfin, our Christian Educator, also developed a survey that included our kids and youth.In the near future, we’ll be getting data back from the survey.  Then our Session and Strategic Planning Committee will use it to help steer our direction and make CPC’s 2012, as well as the years ahead, a time for change and a time for nurturing new relationships in both church and community.  Thanks again to everyone who participated.  Your thoughtful and prayerful opinions, along with the grace of God, will help guide CPC into the future.

In the swirl of pipes and the beating of the drum, CPC brings a time-honored Scottish tradition to town- the “Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans.”

The Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans is a ceremony based on Scottish history and legend. After Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Scottish forces were defeated by the English at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, a British act was passed that forbade the Scots from wearing tartan. In fact, orders were given for British troops to shoot, on sight, any person dressed in Highland garb.

Tartan was the hand woven plaid material that was worn by the occupants of that rugged country. It not only provided warmth, its different designs and colors represented the wearer’s family connections. Forbidding the display of the tartan was like cutting them off from their community. But the stubborn Scotts prevailed, secretly carrying a scrap of the cloth hidden in their clothing when they went to Kirk (church). The minister slipped a blessing (a Kirkin’) into the service for those tartans and the families they represented.

After fifty years, the Act was repealed, and the Church of Scotland celebrated with a Service of Family Covenant, where the tartan of each family was offered as a covenant expression for the Lord’s blessing.

Every October, Carrollton’s own Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans recalls that tradition, beginning at the Square and continuing to Carrollton Presbyterian Church, where the actual service takes place under the gothic arches of the historic sanctuary.

Jan Stewart Tolbert, the pastor at Carrollton Presbyterian Church says this about the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan, “This part of the country was settled in great part by people from the British Isles . . .Scotland, Ireland, England. This service is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate that heritage that so many of us here share.”

Carrollton Presbyterian Church celebrates historical preservation in Carroll County by refurbishing the original Thomasson Family home that stands next to the church on Maple Street.

The house was built in 1897 and named “Magnolia Terrace” by the original owner.

According to the book, Carroll County Heritage, the owner J.J. Thomasson returned to Carrollton and purchased the newspaper “The Carroll County Times.”  He also had various leadership roles in establishing West Georgia University and Carroll County’s public schools.

Mr. Thomasson enjoyed regional celebrity during his lifetime.  On his 90th birthday, the Atlanta Constitution wrote, “He rose at 5 o’clock after an Edisonian sleep of six hours, and he needed no alarm clock.  He has instinctively come within five minutes of that mark for years.  He fed and milked his cow, attended his chickens, donned his long-cuffed canvas gloves and tied up the lot, ate breakfast and reached the office by 8 am.

As the hour hand edges toward 5 in the afternoon, Editor Thomasson will arise and pronounce whimsically, “Well, if there is nothing else for me to do around here, I think I’ll go home. “ About an hour later, clad in overalls and gloves, his face ruddy from barnyard chores, he will appear to hand a quart of milk through the door to his son, Frank Thomasson, tireless publisher of the Times.”

The historic house has been in possession of the church since 1983 when they purchased it from the Thomasson family.  For the past 20 years, the building has served as the church manse (“manse is a Scottish name for “the home where the minister lives.”), as well as for Sunday school classes, youth center, and now as our administrative offices.

Karen Hartley, a professional interior designer and Elder here at CPC orchestrated the handsome new look www.decdens.com/khartley. Bobby McMillian’s company R&R Enterprises http://www.rrenterprises.net/about-us.shtml were the contractors that brought Magnolia Terrace back to its full glory.