Work on prayer garden gets under way

Published 11:19 pm Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Work began this week on a prayer garden in Dalton that has been three years in the making.

After being allowed in 2003 by the Dalton City Council to tear down the historic “Rock House” at 408 Emery St., First United Methodist Church of Dalton officials promised to build the prayer garden to cover the site. The house, which was badly damaged by flooding, was built in the 1930s.

City council members had overruled the Dalton Historic Preservation Commission’s decision to save the house. The church is in the Thornton Avenue-Murray Hill historic district. The preservation commission decides what external changes or demolitions can be done in that area, subject to the final approval of the council.

Church trustee Debbie Macon said that work began on the prayer garden this week. Church officials expect the project to be finished by May 2007.

Macon said the reason it took so long for construction to begin is because the church had to work on projects within its building first. Church trustees have said in the past that the church never promised when the garden would be built.

The prayer garden is expected to cost approximately $120,000, Macon said. It will feature a fountain in a grassy area surrounded by park benches. Macon said it will be a place for church members and area residents to reflect after funerals or weddings or other events.

The addition of a fountain might raise some eyebrows since the reason the house was torn down was because of flood damage. In 2001, the house was deemed unfit for human habitation and condemned by the city building inspector because of water damage and drainage problems.

Macon said she doesn’t believe water problems will be an issue in the garden.

“The water was coming from Emery Street onto the property,” she said. “Since then it was filled in and raised up slightly, so there won’t be water problems. The basement of the house had flooded so badly that all that area had to be filled in.”

Macon said church officials brought their plans for the prayer garden to the Historic Preservation Commission for approval.

“I think (the commission) is 100 percent behind us,” she said.

Chairwoman Carolyn Roan said the commission gave the church the green light for construction.

“I think it will be pretty if they do it the way they plan,” Roan said.

Dalton city administrator Butch Sanders said he is glad construction is under way and hopes the prayer garden will bring an end to questions about the use of the land.

“We knew it was part of their planning,” Sanders said. “We’ve seen the plans and it’s going to be a beautiful area for the church and it fits into the neighborhood. It’s good to get some closure in completion of a situation that had not been finalized.”