Dresden Cumberland Presbyterian Church suffered significant tornado damage on December 10, 2021 (see additional coverage in our January issue.) However, an unforseen benefit is the church bell was rediscovered. Tornado damage to the church has been determined impractical to repair and the structure will be raised. The session hopes to rebuild later in 2022.

Originally installed in 1868, the bell signaled important church events for more than 80 years until the bell tower was walled up during renovation after a fire in the 1950s. Junior Moore, 94, remembered the bell from his youth. After the tornado and with the aid of his daughter, Leanne, Moore went into the attic of the damaged church looking for the bell.

“I went on up there with a flashlight, and I saw it. And then I told a lot of members of the church, I found the bell. They didn’t believe me,” Moore said. “We’re going to clean it up first and get it kind of looking better. But yeah, I want to see it in the church.”