010139
DATE: July 1, 2006
LOCATION: Wheelers Church, Person County, NC
DESCRIPTION: A man stepped out of the church. Yes, it was once called Wheeley’s, the brick was added in the 1950s. Would I like to come inside? The chapel is simple and beautiful, much as Lange described it. I mention the photograph of Queen. “That’s my great aunt, Queen Bowes. My name is Reuben Bowes.” Everyone is over in the lunch room now, having supper, he’s just locking up. “Please come have supper with us.” The “lunch room” is a one-story white building with a single open room filled with tables, the pine trees in Lange’s photos were cut down and used in its construction. Supper is laid out buffet-style on a long table – fried trout and chicken, homemade pickled cabbage and beets, potato and egg salads, desserts, and soft drinks. Everyone is friendly and curious. I pass around my notebook of Lange’s photographs.