Going across Main Street to Forester: The AME Church on the road

Warwick — It took nearly eight hours—a full working day—to move the Union African Methodist Episcopal Church just about a quarter mile from its home for the past 101 years on McEwen Street to its new address on Forester Avenue. Electricity was in the air as the tiny church, which had been lifted from its foundation a day earlier, was placed on the flatbed truck. As the tractor began the meticulously slow journey down McEwen Street at 10 a.m., it became apparent that this would definitely be an arduous task. Trees had to be cut down, and power, telephone and cable television lines disconnected. Street signs had to be removed. It took nearly three hours just to get down narrow McEwen Street and make the left turn onto Wheeler. A large crowd gathered at the intersection. Workers from Orange and Rockland Utilities were in their cherry pickers, disconnecting the wires at the corner. The stop sign was removed. As the trailer, with its precious cargo, ever-so-slowly turned the corner, it kissed the hydrant, just missed a pile of wood and made the turn onto Wheeler to the delight and applause of the patient, sweaty, mid-day crowd. Dan Little of D.C. Little Incorporated, an excavating company, and Wayne Yarusi, owner of W.A. Building Movers, worked together to prepare the church, the new site, and to actually move the building. Switching trucks to pull the trailer, the ride down the much-wider Wheeler Avenue was quick, almost triumphant. Trees had been trimmed already. Line crews followed the church, reattaching power, telephone, and cable lines. Warwick’s finest kept traffic at bay and made sure safety was the rule of the day. Mayor Michael Newhard, who remained with the church from the early morning prayer service until nearly 11 hours later when the journey was complete, seemed to be leading the march down Wheeler. It was Newhard who had spearheaded the effort to save the church from the beginning. When the congregation needed to build a new church on the same property as this one, Newhard called on the entire Warwick community to raise the funds to keep this church intact and use it as a museum of African American history here in the Warwick Valley. Private donations came in and the wheels were put in motion. The church came to a halt again at Spring Street, as many more power lines were in the way. The Peschel family was sitting in front of their home on Wheeler waiting for the church to go by. They had been there since 10:30 that morning. Their neighbor, Joy DeVries, sat with them, as did their friend Noreen Lowry, who would have a great view of the old church for a long time to come—she lives at 5 Forester Avenue, right near the new home for the UAME Church. “This is very exciting,” said Teresa Peschel, a Warwick resident of 47 years. “I think it is great preserving the history of the church.” The church made its way up Wheeler to Main Street and sat for another hour next to the last large building that had been moved intact in the village—the Village Hall. That was originally the Reformed Church on Forester Avenue, and it was moved about 100 years ago. Traffic on Main Street was at a standstill as the church made its way across the busy street and down Church Street, going by the Old School Baptist Meeting House. Finally, a left onto Forester and the church was hoisted onto its new foundation, on land owned by the Warwick Historical Society. Someday, the tiny little church, which was saved from the wrecking ball thanks to the generosity of this community, will be a tool in teaching the history of African Americans here in Warwick. Its stained glass windows will be reinstalled, the cupola will sit high above it again. And the tiny little building that means so much to so many, will take on a whole new purpose.