In 1976, Pilot Grove Church, then 75 years old, disused since 1938 and badly in need of repair, was picked up from its foundation and moved from southeast of Sherman to Dallas’ Old City Park, where the Dallas County Heritage Society restored it. Hauling a wooden clapboard building nearly 60 miles across the heart of Dallas says a lot about the dedication of historic preservationists, and so does documentary filmmaker Mark Birnbaum’s short film Pilot Grove Church — an Education/ Restoration Project, about the society’s most recent restoration work on the church, which is now used to host weddings and meetings. Birnbaum’s film captures last March’s new restoration project in which carpenters dressed in period costumes and using tools similar to those used in the church’s construction fixed up the former Methodist church. The movie premieres at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Dallas Heritage Village (1515 S. Harwood St.), followed by a panel discussion. For more information, call 214-413-3662.
Wed., Nov. 20, 2013