Neighborhood Part III: Barcroft Community House

In our neighborhood, at the corner of Buchanan and 8th St S is a little white church surrounded by a lovely landscaped yard, with a grill and wheelchair ramp in the back.

It's theI mentioned in my last neighborhood post that the community 4th of July parade ended up here, and we had a potluck picnic on the lawn. When I asked my neighbor Catriona when they moved to the neighborhood, she said they discovered the Community House when looking for a place to have their wedding reception in 2000. They loved it, and the neighborhood, and bought one of the houses for sale right after getting married. Then a few weeks ago Catriona's daughter Gillian had her birthday party here, and kindly invited us, so we got to see the inside. It was also great to have a destination we could walk to with the stroller, something we miss about Brooklyn.

It's a simple building - a large main room with wood floors, high ceiling and a stage at one end. A small hallway leads to a kitchen, single bathroom, and the back door. Quite echo-y with a bunch of 3 and 4-year-olds running around yelling. Catriona told me it rents for $15/hr during the week, and more on weekends. During the birthday party I was struck by the old charm of it - things like the decorative windows:

and this EXIT light:

On the way home I found this historical marker sign tucked in the bushes:

It's just a lovely part of the neighborhood, a place to gather and care about together, a little piece of history that belongs to our little community in this massive metropolitan area.