The Little Tree Church, a replica of Hopewell
Church near Columbia, Tenn., was built around
a vintage oak tree that was probably planted
by Sam Preble, who built a Victorian mansion
on the property in the late 1 800s. The tree
has died, but the church still stands in the
parking lot of Jamestown Village
The little church
in the middle of the Jamestown Village parking
lot looks as if it has been part of Tustin for
centuries, but it only dates back some 40 years.
The location on D
Street (El Camino Real) between Main and Sixth
was once an orchard with a magnificent Victorian
home owned by George Preble, who came to Tustin
in 1876. A builder as well as an orange grower,
he built the Tustin Hotel, the Tustin Lemon
Association packing house and Tustin High School
in addition to his home.
In 1955 C.T.
Gilbreath, a builder, bought the house, then
known as the Franklin P. Crawford house. The
property, which had shrunk to about two acres,
included a well house and a barn, with two circa
1928 Nash automobiles in it, an orange grove and
a few avocado trees.
The Gilbreath
family moved into the house and lived there
until 1960, when work began on Jamestown
Village. The structure was offered free to
anyone who would move it, but there were no
takers and the house was demolished in October
1960. The mantle from the old house was given to
Walter Knott for use at Knott’s Berry Farm. Some
of the other interior items were salvaged for
use in the shopping center (primarily in the
shop which is now Rumors Salon).
Gilbreath managed
to save many of the pine trees surrounding the
house, working them into the shopping center’s
landscaping, but he fretted over a large oak
tree in the parking lot.
Writing in The
Tustin News in 1968, he explained, “I felt
that I should do something special around this
oak tree. Flowers? Everybody plants flowers. A
tree house? No, kids would get hurt. Then my
thoughts drifted back to my childhood in
Columbia, TN.”
As he reminisced,
he recalled 1912 when he had gone with his
grandmother by horse and buggy to Hopewell
Church. The country church which she had
attended from the time of the Civil War was
about six miles outside Columbia. Those pleasant
memories provided him with the solution for the
oak tree
He designed and
built a miniature of his grandmother’s church,
only with the oak tree growing through the
middle of it. The Little Tree Church with white
clapboard siding, a red brick porch and shake
roof still stands, but is no long sheltered by
the oak tree.A combination of old age and
disease killed it a number of years ago.
Today the tiny
church stands alone in the parking lot with its
cupola reaching into the sky. The green trim
encasing the stained glass windows is fresh and
the interior with its cathedral ceiling, knotty
pine walls and four small pews appears to be
waiting for a wedding or christening party to
arrive and light the candles in the sconces. A
small white organ stands ready as does the
pulpit made from a large rock elevated on a
brick platform.
Gilbreath passed
away in 1987, followed by his wife, Charlie May,
in 2004
The center is
still owned and managed by the Gilbreath Family.
Gerda Brucks of Gerda’s Antiques is custodian of
the key and shows the Little Tree Church to
those who are curious or interested in renting
it. Meanwhile, it waits patiently, surrounded by
cars.
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