It is a sad fact that many churches in Mississippi have met their untimely ends in tornadoes, fires, hurricanes, and – most frustratingly – at the jaws of bulldozers. Luckily for those churches, Richard Cawthon has beautifully preserved their legacies in his new book, Lost Churches of Mississippi.
This book is stunning. Cawthon, an architectural historian (he was the chief architectural historian for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for twenty years), has done such a great job of assembling photos and information that his passion for the subject is contagious. It’s a beautiful book, but also maddening; if a church wasn’t destroyed by some sinister natural disaster, it was simply ‘replaced’. It’s almost criminal that some of these structures were demolished.
It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to know a thing about architecture to appreciate Lost Churches. It is primarily a photographic book, and while Cawthon’s descriptions of the 110 churches he documents are brief, they’re engaging.
I’m sure many Mississippians will remember these buildings; a good number of them were still standing less than fifty years ago. This book will be a treasure not only for those who are familiar with these ‘lost’ churches, but also for those, like me, who knew nothing of them.
We were pleased to have Richard in the store earlier today for a signing, so come and pick up a copy! Also have a look at Historic Churches of Mississippi while you’re here – he worked with photographer Sherry Pace on that book and credits it as being the inspiration for Lost Churches.
Susie
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