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Hours of Operation
The
Child Care Center
is designed for children between the ages of
2 to 5.
We are
open
Monday - Friday from
7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
For more information about our facility,
please call us at
(941) 484-4415.
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Church History Continued |
A great deal of building was occurring at
this time due to the development of
Venice by the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers who offered us land but
it came with the
stipulation that the Church must be used for all denominations.
The pastor and members of our Church decided against accepting
the land
with these restrictions. In 1927, Dr. Fred Albee
donated land close to Dona
Bay free of any restrictions and
construction of a new Church began. It is
believed that our
Church was officially named Venice-Nokomis United
Methodist
Church at this time. Our present day Sanctuary stands on the
exact spot as the 1927 church. The flooring and plaster on the
walls was
not added to the Church until 1942 due to financial
constraints. |
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1927 Church Under Construction |
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The Completed Church in the
1940's |
For years, some of our members use to pole
their flat bottom boats down the
shallow bays (traveling as much
as 10 to 15 miles) to the Boathouse on Dona
Bay each Sunday to
hear Rev. Knight preach. They used the boathouse to
change into
their “Sunday best” before walking the short distance to the
Church.
The property and boat dock where the Boathouse once
stood is still owned
by Venice-Nokomis United Methodist Church. |
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The Boathouse |
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In 1949, a tower was added to the Church
and chimes were installed. Since
then
hymns have played three
times per day and can still be heard throughout
the area.
During
the 70’s, after considerable effort, our cast iron bell was
returned to us.
It now resides in a small tower built especially
for it. The bell
is one of only two
church bells in the area
that still actually rings. The cast
iron bell is the oldest
article we have representing our heritage.
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Chime Tower
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Bell Tower |
In 1965, the Sanctuary underwent extensive
remodeling. The Choir loft
was
enlarged, the
pews and altar furniture refinished, and twelve beautiful
stained
glass windows were installed. The windows consisted of a
series
of pictures
about the life of Christ. The United
Methodist Men built a Boy
Scout hut on the
Church property in
1966. Several years later, a new
Fellowship Hall was
constructed.The VNUMC logo, used on the front
page of our Newsletter and at the top
of our
web site pages, was
designed for our Centennial Celebration in
1969. The new
emblem
was used for the first time on a special bulletin
cover dated
January 5,
1969. A member of the Church drew the logo.
It has 3
symbolic circles: |
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(1 ) An inner circle
with a cross and
open Bible to represent our faith,
(2)
Birds above the clouds, a palm
branch, sun, sea and fish
are
reminiscent of our Baypoint location
and (3) Our
Church name printed on
the outside circle. |
In 1978, it was determined that repairs and enlargement to the
Church
building
were impractical and extremely costly so the
decision was made
to build a new
Church. It was erected on the
exact spot where our 1927
Church once stood. |
Present Day Sanctuary
Photograph courtesy of Steve R. Tabor |
The Church was designed to be very
similar to the old one and many
items,
such as, the ceiling
lights, stained glass windows, and some of
the pews were
incorporated into the new Sanctuary. A beam from the
old Church
was used
by Roy Bernius Sr. to make a remarkable cross
to hang
over the altar.
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In 1979, a section of the old Fellowship
Hall was turned into a Memorial
Chapel.
It was named the Blalock
Memorial Chapel in honor of two
members whose lives
and efforts
have meant so much in the history
of our wonderful Church. The
Chapel
was designed to capture as much
as possible the tone and
atmosphere from our
1927 Sanctuary. It contains
some of the
pews, altar rail, pulpit desk, lecturn, chairs,
and beautiful
altar,
the brass and brocaded satin paraments from the old
Church.
In honor of the 125th Anniversary of the founding of
Venice-Nokomis
United
Methodist Church, a “reunion” Pageant of
our unique 60-Year
Christmas Pageant
was presented. The Pageant
told the Christmas
story through “Living Pictures.”
To view four
silhouette photographs of
our most popular scenes and for more
information about the history
and the wonderful traditions that
were part of the
Pageant, please click
on the link below.
The Pageant
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On Christmas Eve, of
the year 2000, Venice-Nokomis United Methodist
Church
celebrated
its 132nd Birthday. That can be broken down to
132 years or
48,213
days, 1,157,112 hours, 69,426,720 minutes or
4,165,603,200 seconds!
On September 14, 2001 our Church once again sustained damage
from
a storm.
This time
it was from Tropical Storm Gabrielle. A large and very
beautiful
oak tree
on the Church property was destroyed. The tree was
approximately 70 years old
and considered an area landmark in
Nokomis.
On the first Sunday after the storm
the congregation
worshipped with only
partial electrical power inside the
Sanctuary.
There were a few lights, no
air conditioning or
water, and the pipe organ was
silenced. A palm tree
located at
the entrance of the parking lot (close to the oak tree)
was also
uprooted by the storm. This palm tree was considered “unique” by
many
horticulturists because it had seven heads.
There is more of God’s work for us to do.
We honor the past!
We serve the
present!
We look forward to the future!
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