Topic starter
17/05/2007 8:37 am
I've just read Capt. Norman Hillman's "One Man and the Mighty Mississippi" where he is mentioning the "Defender Chapel" at Bradrick, OH, right opposite of Huntington, WV. According to the book the chapel got its name from the steam towboat DEFENDER that blew up its boiler right at that spot in 1905. The chapel got the boat's bell.
Does anyone know whether this chapel still exists and whether the bell is still there?
Franz
17/05/2007 10:43 am
The last time I passed through Bradrick, Ohio, the Defender Chapel was still there. Presumably the bell is, too.
17/05/2007 11:36 am
There is a Defender UMC, although the mailing address is the next town just down river
Defender UMC
2299 County Rd 229
Chesapeake OH, 45619
17/05/2007 1:03 pm
An Eyewitness
Sometime in 1976 or '77, on a ride out of Huntington as I was telling about the DEFENDER explosion over the PA on the PA DENNY, a older gentleman came to the pilothouse door and said he was an eyewitness to the whole shebang.
"Saw'd it all with my own eyes," He declared. "Bodies wuz a' hanging in the telephone wires. Yep, saw'd it all."
He stayed for a few minutes, and then padded away into time.
17/05/2007 1:50 pm
Franz Neumeier;5659 wrote: I've just read Capt. Norman Hillman's "One Man and the Mighty Mississippi" where he is mentioning the "Defender Chapel" at Bradrick, OH, right opposite of Huntington, WV. According to the book the chapel got its name from the steam towboat DEFENDER that blew up its boiler right at that spot in 1905. The chapel got the boat's bell.
Does anyone know whether this chapel still exists and whether the bell is still there?
Franz
It's a good book, ain't it!!! Maybe I feel that way because I'm biased!!
25/05/2007 3:09 am
Franz,
The Chapel does still exist, as I passed by it today on my way home from the Point Pleasant/Gallipolis area. I was told just this past week-end that the bell is there.
David Smith
Franz Neumeier;5659 wrote: I've just read Capt. Norman Hillman's "One Man and the Mighty Mississippi" where he is mentioning the "Defender Chapel" at Bradrick, OH, right opposite of Huntington, WV. According to the book the chapel got its name from the steam towboat DEFENDER that blew up its boiler right at that spot in 1905. The chapel got the boat's bell.
Does anyone know whether this chapel still exists and whether the bell is still there?
Franz