Heritage USA, Fort Mill, South Carolina

Heritage USA is located in Fort Mill, SC. (1978-1989) It's about 2 miles down the street from Paramount's Carowinds. This Christian Theme Park has beaen closed and abandoned for well over a decade, so we wanted to check out how the place looks now. 

http://www.tommyandjames.net/heritageusa.html 

Who went down the waterslide in a suit and tie? The late Jerry Falwell.

 

Holy Land USA, Waterbury, Connecticut

Not the TBN one currently in operation in Florida, but more of an abandoned one:

http://roadtripmemories.com/2011/09/29/holy-land-u-s-a-waterbury-connecticut/

"The creation of John Baptist Greco, situated on Pine Hill in Waterbury, Connecticut, Holy Land U.S.A. was a place for education of the Bible and the life of Christ. It was not a shrine or a place of worship. It was dedicated in 1958 as “Bethlehem Village” and later became Holy Land U.S.A. The vision of a local Waterbury lawyer named John Greco and built with the help of Waterbury Italian volunteers, Holy Land was a tourist destination for years, sometimes drawing 44,000 visitors per year."

Scriptorium, Holy Land Experience, Orlando, Florida

Within the TBN-owned theme park is a true item of interest:

http://www.holylandexperience.com/


This museum is a non-sectarian library / research center that houses the priceless Van Kampen Collection consisting of several thousand manuscripts, scrolls, and other religious artifacts. The collection is augmented by secondary resources, including the personal library of Eberhard Nestle, leading 19th century biblical scholar and co-translator of the Greek Nestle/Aland New Testament text.

The walk-through experience of The Scriptorium transports visitors to historical and geographical areas of the world where displayed biblical documents originated and gives guests a dramatic understanding of the history of the Bible, how it parallels the history of civilization, and the impact it has had upon the world.
Additionally, specially featured items are on display in our rotating exhibit space, located off The Scriptorium's Ex Libris bookstore.

Billy Sunday Grave, Chicago, Illinois

The Baseball Evangelist. He was born in Ames, Iowa, to a father who was a Union soldier and died a month after Billy's birth. Extreme poverty forced his mother to place him in an orphanage. While playing for a local baseball team, he was invited to play for the old Chicago Whitestockings later becoming the Cubs. A fast runner, he stole 95 bases in one season. His professional career found him also playing for teams in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia before converting to Christianity. Billy Sunday gave up his baseball career and began working for the Chicago YMCA while associated with an evangelist which led him to be ordained a Presbyterian minister. He began bringing a rural camp-meeting style to cities all over the country known as "walk the sawdust trail" for Jesus Christ. His mainstay subject was the evils of drink as well as condemning birth control, gambling, swearing and Sabbath-breaking. He was one of the first prominent preachers to make extensive use of the new medium radio. By the end of his career, Sunday had preached to over eighty million people. He participated in the prohibitionist movement and his influence was instrumental in getting the amendment passed. He wrote numerous books. He supported womens rights and attempted to reach out to American blacks. Sinclair Lewis' book, "Elmer Gantry" is based on his life, the book later made into a the movie. Billy Sunday was also immortalized in the song "Chicago," described as the town he could not shut down. Late in life having amassed a small fortune, he was able to move with his wife and four children to a lake front house at Winona Lake, Indiana which today is preserved and a favorite destination of tourist. Winona Lake was also home to The Lake Bible conference which staged many Chautaugua meetings featuring Billy Sunday. He continued to hold meetings until his death from a heart attack. His funeral was held at the auditorium of the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, a facility where he appeared as a guest preacher many times. Thousands filed past his bier and 3,500 people attended the service officiated by Dr. Ironside, the pastor of the Church. Many remained outside unable to gain entrance. His marker in Forest Park bears a Bible verse inscription appropriate for a "squeaky clean" evangelist who practiced what he preached, "I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith." (bio by: Donald Greyfield (inactive)) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1007

Oriental Institute, Chicago, Illinois

Largest collection of Biblical artifacts in the Western Hemisphere.

Download the audio guide - The Bible in the Ancient Mideast

http://oi.uchicago.edu/museum/

Pacific Garden Mission, Chicago, Illinois

Billy Sunday, a popular professional baseball player for the Chicago White Stockings, came to the mission in 1886. He first heard the gospel from the mission Gospel Wagon on the corner of State and Van Buren. He visited the mission that night and liked what he heard and one night Billy publicly accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. He became an eager Bible student and gave his testimony frequently at the mission. Billy learned his first lessons in giving the invitation and in talking man to man with a sinner, explaining the steps to salvation. Later, after turning down a lucrative offer to continue his baseball career, Billy Sunday became a world renowned evangelist. http://www.pgm.org/pages.aspx?PageName=Our_History_Part_2

Bowen Collection, BJU Museum & Gallery, Greenville, South Carolina

In 1927, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bowen began compiling information and artifacts from Bible times for a museum that would “make the Bible come alive.” In addition to collecting antiquities from the Holy Land, the Bowen’s collection also contains items from cultures that have influenced life in the Holy Land, including Egyptian, Byzantine, Roman, Greek, Persian-Islamic, and Syrian.  From iridescent Roman glass vials and Roman jewelry found at Pompeii’s ruins to Egyptian ceremonial vessels and cosmetics, the collection invites visitors to relate to their counterparts from the past through the glimpses of life in ancient cultures.  Nearly 200 Egyptian objects in the collection were discovered and donated by Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the world-renown English archaeologist. http://www.bjumg.org/the-bowen-collection2/

Charles Finney Grave, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio

Finney was most active as a revivalist 1825-35, and was known for his innovations in preaching and religious meetings. These included having women pray out loud in public meetings of mixed gender; development of the "anxious seat", a place where those considering becoming Christians could come to receive prayer; and public censure of individuals by name in sermons and prayers.^[8] He was also known for his use of extemporaneous preaching. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grandison_Finney

Niagara Bible Conferences, Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario

Originally Queen's Royal Hotel, demolished 1930.
http://www.exploringniagara.com/places_to_explore/parks_beaches/queens_royal_park.html

 

The Niagara Bible Conference (officially called the "Believers' Meeting for Bible Study") was held annually from 1876 to 1897, with the exception of 1884. In the first few years it met in different resort locations around the United States. Starting in 1883, it was held in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario at the Queen's Royal Hotel and its pavilion.
In 1878, the Believers' Meeting for Bible Study produced the document that came to be known as the "Niagara Creed." This 14-point statement of faith was one of the first to explicitly proclaim faith in the premillennial return of Jesus Christ to earth. The Niagara Creed does not explicitly affirm dispensationalism, but it refers to several key dispensationalist beliefs, including the reality of the millennium, the restoration of Israel, and the distinction between the judgment of the saved and the damnedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Bible_Conference

George Whitfield Burial Crypt, Newburyport, MA

Rev. George Whitefield, Calvinistic Evangelist, was born in the Bell Inn, at Gloucester, Englandon the sixteenth day of December, 1714. He arrived in Newburyport in September, 1740. The revival that followed his labors, brought into existence Old South. He crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, and preached more than 18,000 sermons. His audiences often numbered as many as 15,000 people.
All did not take kindly to his words, for on one occasion a stone was hurled, which nearly struck the Bible from his hand. His reply reveals the greatness of his spirit."I have a warrant from God to preach. His seal, — (holding up the Bible), is in my hand, and I stand in the King's highway."Benjamin Franklin, after hearing him preach, made this comment:"His integrity, disinterestedness, and indefatigable zeal, in promoting every good work, I ha' never seen equaled, and shall never see excelled."His activities continued to the evening before his death. In response to the appeal of the people gathered on School Street, outside of the home of Parsons, he preached to them from the staircase, — "until the candle, which he still held, burned away, and went out in its socket."At six o'clock on Sunday morning, September 30, 1770, he passed into eternal glory 30 years to the day after his first visit to Newburyport.Today he rests eternally, according to his wishes, in a crypt under the pulpit of this Church that he helped found. http://www.oldsouthnbpt.org/News.htm

Step right in to living history; experience Old South from top to bottom
From the crypt of Rev. Whitefield to the bell cast by Paul Revere, visit the Whispering Galleries or the slave pews on your tour of Old South. 

Guided Tours
A free tour is offered every Sunday directly following the 10:30am service. Additionally, guided tours are offered by appointment only.  A suggested donation of $5.00 per person, or for groups of 20 people or more a donation of $1.00 per person is requested. 

To schedule a tour, please call the church office at 978-465-9666 or email the church at admin@oldsouthnbpt.org. Please allow 3 days advance notice. School and history touring groups are welcome.

Ira Sankey Collection, New Castle, Pennsylvania

Our Museum houses a large Ira D. Sankey collection. Our museum contains a room devoted especially to Sankey. Please visit our museum and peruse his hymn books or view never seen before Sankey photographs and diaries. Our collection includes the following rarities:

• Letters
• Photographs
• Pamphlets & Papers
• Books & Hymn Books
• The Traveling Organ of Ira D. Sankey & Dwight L. Moody

One of the most famous Lawrence Countians, Ira Sankey, achieved international fame as a singer, evangelist and writer of gospel hymns. His influence through the songs he sang and wrote helped to change the attitude of many in the late 19th century churches from hostility toward “worldly” music to acceptance of gospel hymns as a means of reaching the hearts of believers. Ira David Sankey, son of David Sankey, known as the father of Lawrence County, and Mary Leeper Sankey, was born Aug.28, 1840, at Edinburg. At age 16 he was converted at a revival meeting at the king’s Chapel Church, about three miles from his home. While he was attending a YMCA international convention at Indianapolis in 1870, his singing and leadership came to the attention of Dwight L. Moody, a Chicago evangelist. Sankey, after serving briefly in the Union Army, had married and had two small children and a good job when Moody insisted that he come to Chicago to work with him.

Wesley Oak, Christ Church, Georgia

During the 18th century, St. Simons served as a sometime home to John Wesley, the minister of the colony. He later returned to England, where he founded the Methodist Church. Wesley performed missionary work at St. Simons while he was still in the Anglican Church, but he was despondent about failing to bring about conversions. (He wrote that the local inhabitants had more tortures from their environment than he could describe for Hell). In the 1730s John Wesley's brother Charles Wesley also did missionary work on St. Simons.^[5]

On April 5, 1987, fifty-five members from St. Simons United Methodist Church were commissioned, with Bishop Frank Robertson as first pastor, to begin a new church on the north end of St. Simons Island. This was where John and Charles Wesley had preached and ministered to the people at Fort Frederica. The new church was named Wesley United Methodist Church at Frederica

Robert Sheffey Memorial Campground, Trigg, VA

Annual family reunion - http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=83&p=topics.reunion.us.va 

Located in Giles County, The Campground was exemplary of a religious and social institution, indeed of a way of life, which flourished during the 19th century untill the large shed used during worship and many family shelters were destroyed by fire. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Reverend-Robert-Sheffey-Wabash-Campground/204128886298579?id=204128886298579&sk=info

Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, England

Spurgeon's Tabernacle. Founded c1650. Pastored by C H Spurgeon 1854-1892. A large central London reformed church proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and the doctrines of grace. http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/

First Baptist Church in America, Providence, Rhode Island

The First Baptist Church in America has been on College Hill in downtown Providence since 1638, sharing the good news, with Christ-centered enthusiasm, biblical preaching, dynamic caring ministries, advocating the separate and complementary relationship between church and state, and the vitality of traditional worship. What Roger Williams established is still worth standing for. http://www.firstbaptistchurchinamerica.org/

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God / Jonathan Edwards Stone, Enfield, Connecticut

Follow along with the Reinke family as they explore the life of Jonathan Edwards

Creation & Earth History Museum, Santee, CA

Dr. Henry Morris' Institute of Creation Research launched the Creation and Earth History Museum in 1992. For 16 years, ICR developed and grew the exhibits with a mission to equip believers with evidence of the Bible's accuracy and authority through scientific research, educational programs, and media presentations, all conducted within a thoroughly biblical framework.  Upon ICR's move to Texas in 2008, the entire museum and its contents were sold to Scantibodies Laboratory, Inc.Tom Cantor, the owner of Scantibodies Laboratory, Inc., and his wife Cheryl founded a non-profit 501c3 ministry called the Light and Life Foundation. The Light and Life Foundation owns and operates the museum and continues creation evangelism.The Creation and Earth History Museum remains dedicated to the biblical account of science and history. The facilities include a 10,000 sq. ft. showcase for a literal six-day creation and young earth, including a human anatomy exhibit, life-size tabernacle display, age of the earth cave and more. The museum is located 20 minutes east of the downtown San Diego airport in Santee, CA. We also invite you to tour the museum virtually online, or schedule a professional tour.  Plan a future visit by calling us today! http://www.creationsd.org/museum_history.html

Bowery Rescue Mission, Manhattan, New York

Home to Fanny Crosby's piano

The Chapel: The Great Heart of The Bowery Mission (2009)

What do the following people have in common: Presidents William Howard Taft and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, hymnwriter Fanny Crosby, Governor Al Smith, retailer JC Penney, reformer Eleanor Roosevelt, evangelists Billy Sunday and Billy Graham, and beat writer Jack Kerouac?  They all are a part of the history of The Bowery Mission Chapel.  Written on the occasion of the Chapel’s 100th Anniversary in 2009, The Chapel is a fascinating history written by Christianity Today senior writer Tony Carnes.

Scopes Trial Museum & Rhea County Courthouse, Dayton, Tennessee

The Rhea County Courthouse, located in Dayton, Tennessee was the scene of the Scopes Trial of July 1925, in which teacher John T. Scopesfaced charges for including Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in his public school lesson. The trial became a clash of titans between the lawyersWilliam Jennings Bryan for the prosecution and Clarence Darrow for the defense, and epitomizes the tension between fundamentalism andmodernism in a wide range of aspects of American society.
A $1-million project which restored the second-floor courtroom to the way it looked during the Scopes trial was completed in 1979. The Rhea County Museum, also called the Scopes Trial Museum, is located in its basement and contains such memorabilia as the microphone used to broadcast the trial, trial records, photographs, and an audiovisual history of the trial. Every July local people re-enact key moments of the trial in the courtroom.^[3]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhea_County_Courthouse

http://www.tnvacation.com/vendors/the_scopes_trial_museum_rhea_county_courthouse/

William Jennings Bryan House, Lincoln, Nebraska

The William Jennings Bryan House, also known as Fairview, is a historic house built in 1902--03 in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States.^[2] It is noteworthy as the home of William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925), and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1963.
Five acres of the adjoining property was the original site of Bryan Memorial Hospital, now owned by BryanLGH Health System, which also owns Fairview. The home was restored in 1994.^[3] The upper two floors house the Wm. Jennings Bryan Institute, which consists of three centers: the Center for Bioethics, the Center for Advancing Nursing Practice and the Center for Quality.
The lower level of Fairview is open to the public and features the Bryan Museum, as well as rooms furnished to depict the family’s life during the early 1900s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan_House_(Lincoln,_Nebraska)

Old Rugged Cross Historic Church & Garden

The Old Rugged Cross Foundation, Inc. was formed for the purpose of saving and restoring the old church where the hymn made its public debut, and preserving the history of the hymn and its author. Once restored as closely as possible to its 1913 appearance, the church will serve as a museum, preserving the history of the hymn and the community. The museum will be useful for historical research and the sanctuary will be available to rent for weddings and special services. http://www.the-oldruggedcross.org/whoweare.php

 In 1998, the church was purchased for restoration.^[4] As of 2013, the restoration was 85% complete, with over $800,000 spent.^[5] In 2013 the church received a Governor's Award for Historic Preservation.^[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Methodist_Episcopal_Church_of_Pokagon 

Old Rugged Cross Memorial, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin

George Bennard was a native of Youngstown, Ohio but was reared in Iowa. After his conversion in a Salvation Army meeting, he and his wife became brigade leaders before leaving the organization for the Methodist Church. As a Methodist evangelist, Bennard wrote the first verse of "The Old Rugged Cross" in Albion, Michigan, in the fall of 1912^[a] as a response to ridicule which he received at a revival meeting.^[2] Bennard traveled with Ed E. Mieras from Chicago to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin where they held evangelistic meetings at the Friends Church from December 29, 1912 to January 12, 1913. During the meetings Rev. George Bennard finished "The Old Rugged Cross" and on the last night of the meeting before a full house, Bernard and Ed Mieras it as a duet with Pearl Torstensen Berg, organist for the meeting, as accompanist.^[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Rugged_Cross

Friends Community Church, 204 W. Maple St., Sturgeon Bay, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first public singing of the much-beloved song, "The Old Rugged Cross" on Jan. 12 and 13 with the weekend's events culminating in a musical celebration at 2 p.m. that Sunday.
The Rev. George Bennard held evangelistic meetings at the Friends Church when the area was still called Sawyer. During that week he completed the final three stanzas of the now-famous song and sang it for the first time in front of the congregation gathered on the last night of their revival meetings Jan. 12, 1913.

http://www.packersnews.com/article/20130105/ADV01/301050262/-Old-Rugged-Cross-turns-100

Billy Sunday Home & Visitors Center, Winona Lake, IN

The Billy Sunday Home Museum holds the belongings of the Sunday family. Tours are by appointment only. Come to the Reneker Museum of Winona History located in Westminster Hall, 10 9th Street, Winona Lake for information Billy Sunday and how to schedule a tour. We offer tours by appointment or as a walk-in. To schedule an appointment, call our Curator/Tour Guide Chelsea at (317)417-8489! 

D.L. Moody Museum, Chicago, Illinois

http://www.moodyministries.net/crp_mainpage.aspx?id=64

The Garden Tomb / Gordon's Calvary

While most scholars agree that this is not the actual site of the Empty Tomb, this is the best spot in Jerusalem to reflect on what Jesus did for us. Yes, walk the Via Dolorosa, to the traditional site, but when you're ready to leave the hustle and bustle of the streets of Jerusalem and see what it may have looked like in Jesus day, to quietly meditate and pray, that's when you want to see the Garden Tomb.