RODNEY, Miss. (WJTV) – I’ve been doing stories in Rodney, particularly at the old Presbyterian church, wince there were enough buildings left standing. Eudora Welty took some of her famous photographs here and lamented the passing of Rodney way back then.
There is a new wrinkle of the fabric of that story. Most recently, the south wall has been totally rebuilt at the church. The wall was buckling in the middle and leaning. The experts said a few more inches of give and the whole church would have caved in on itself. The Rodney History and Preservation Society was formed and started raising money for restoration efforts.
The other glaring problem with the church was the bell tower. It was leaning to the east and had been for a while. The weight of the bell was warping the rafters supporting it. Those rafters ran the length of the church. If those rafters broke, the church would come down. More money was raised, more work was done, and the bell tower is once again straight.
