South Newbury Union Chapel is one of Geauga County’s most significant women’s history sites and a symbol of free speech.
South Newbury Union Chapel is one of Geauga County’s most significant women’s history sites and a symbol of free speech.
Local lore is that a public library was established at the chapel in the 19th century.
As reported in the “Geauga Republican” on Jan. 21, 1874, “the South Newbury Aid Society are about to organize a literary society and propose to give one or more exhibitions this winter, and the proceeds are to go towards establishing a public library.”
February celebrates National Library Lovers Month and on Feb. 3, that love of reading returned to the historic site.
Newbury Township Troop 99 Eagle Scout Will Brooker, of Chardon, installed a Little Free Library he constructed on the land adjacent to the north side of the chapel as his Eagle Scout project.
“The timing is apropos,” said Bari Oyler Stith, of Claridon, a popular local historian and South Newbury Union Chapel trustee.
Little Free Libraries can be seen across the United States and throughout the world. The free book-sharing boxes function on the honor system and encourage reading — anyone may take a book or share a book.
Will’s library is not just any ordinary one.
“It was indeed modeled after the chapel itself, which was where many of the obstacles to overcome came up in the design process, when putting in all those little details to make it as true to the historic site as possible,” Will said, adding he stocked the library with books.
The chapel, at 15829 Ravenna Road (state Route 44) was constructed between 1858-1859 as a response to a congregational church prohibiting future President James A. Garfield from giving a speech in fear it might be on a controversial topic.
The Little Free Library is located next to the chapel on Geauga Park District’s Krehlik property off Ravenna Road and funded in part by the Rotary Club of Burton-Middlefield.
South Newbury Union Chapel Trustee Carole Drabek, of Newbury, said she is so happy with the library.
Will gathered with his family Feb 3 as photos were taken and history made at the installation’s completion.
The Eagle Scout is a sophomore at Chardon High School and unsure, yet, of his college plans, but is certain that rising the ranks of the Boy Scouts of America has been the right thing for him.
“When I was in first-grade, Pack 92 in Chardon, they lured me in with the promise of a night to sleep on a battleship at the Buffalo Naval Museum, so I was kind of locked into it after that,” Will recalled. “But, in all seriousness, after getting into it from a young age, I enjoyed the enriching experience that it provided and decided to stick with the program.”
He has also made many cherished friends and memories.
“Becoming an Eagle Scout was always an end goal for me that I wanted to accomplish because it’s a very difficult, but rewarding process,” Will said.
The idea of a Little Free Library project began with Will and his parents tossing around possible service project ideas.
“Service to others is integral to the Eagle Scout experience where Scouts apply character, citizenship and scouting values to their daily lives,” Stith said. “One of the requirements to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout is the planning, development and leadership of a service project. In this way, Scouts practice what they have learned while gaining valuable experience in project management and leadership.”
The Brookers discovered the chapel — which is on the National Register of Historic Places and National Votes for Women Trail — and after scoping out the site, learning the history and meeting with the two groups that own the chapel and the land it sits on, they decided to move forward with the project.
“I picked this particular project since it will be significant to the history of the Union Chapel, since as it was a public-speaking-forum for social and civil issues (with speakers such as Susan B. Anthony), it also served as a library,” Will said. “I felt this to be an important part of our county’s history that was worth preserving and I’m glad I was able to.”
Work on the project kicked off as Will marked the site for where to dig to put the posts that mount the library in the ground before working with his troop on digging the holes, putting in the posts and backfilling them.
On another day, they went to Will’s house, where they began work on building the structure for the cabinet.
“After those two days, me and my father spent the next few months adding the rest of the Little Free Library cabinet to the structure, such as the stain on the inside, the siding and battens, the shingled roof, the doors, a descriptive and commemorative plaque and, last but not least, the bell tower,” Will said. “Finally, we had one last workday with a small number of members from Troop 99 where we put and fastened the cabinet to the posts, stocked it and put the little locking mechanism on the door.”
Will, an avid reader himself, felt accomplished after seeing the finished project.
“Not many can say that by 16, they were able to plan and manage such a project and I take great pride in this work and all who helped me along the way in the making of it,” he said. “I feel as if after completing this project, new opportunities have already started to open up.”
ROSE NEMUNAITIS/KMG
8741 – Eagle Scout Will Booker, constructor of a new Free Lending Library at South Newbury Union Chapel site joins Trustee Bari Oyler Stith as she holds, “The History of Woman Suffrage,” co-authored by Susan B. Anthony,” which is still in the Union Chapel collection.
8749 – Eagle Scout Will Brooker opens the door to the Free Lending Library he created and modeled after South Newbury Union Chapel.
8734 – Chardon’s Bob Brooker, Will Brooker, Heidi Brooker, and Alex Brooker help celebrate the completion of Will’s Eagle Scout project – a Free Lending Library at the site of South Newbury Union Chapel.
