Murphy – Spring is a season of renewal and with it comes new hope for the oldest structure in Cherokee County.
Local resident Wolfgang Raffler has signed on as contractor to complete the roof restoration project for the historic Harshaw Chapel. Raffler will begin work on the project this month and follow plans designed for the purpose of restoring the chapel to its earliest known exterior appearance.
“We really wanted the work to stay local,” First United Methodist Church of Murphy pastor Wil Posey said. “When we found Wolfgang, his background, experience and desire to do the project – we knew we’d found our guy.”
Raffler will follow plans originating from work done previously by an architect with historic preservation expertise. The project is being done within bounds of the preservation standards and much of the original material removed will be kept to be incorporated into the chapel’s interior in some way, according to Posey.
Along with signing a contractor, the need for additional fundraising to cover the architectural plans has spring-boarded new goals for the Friends of Harshaw Chapel Committee.
Initially, the committee for Friends of Harshaw Chapel was able to obtain a $15,000 capital grant from Partners for Sacred Places, a program focused on building the capacity of congregations of historic sacred places to better serve their communities, according to sacredplaces.org.
Since then, Partners for Sacred Places gave an additional $10,000, and the Cherokee County Tourism Authority gave $35,000 toward the project. The additional $100,000 has been raised through fundraising and donations.
The project is still needing about $6,000 in funds to support the plans drawn by the architect as well as the next stage of restoration which includes interior work.
Details: Visit murphyfirstumc.org.