Travelers Chapel provides solace for Myrtle Beach passers-by

CONWAY

The Travelers Chapel is a 10-by-16 building housing hope.

It stands on U.S. 501 and serves as a sanctuary for souls seeking God.

“It is a place where people feel God’s presence,” said Bruce Young, the chapel’s caretaker. “Any time you can feel God, it is a good thing.”

At the time of year when churches welcome parishioners, some of whom are making their annual visit to a house of worship, the chapel stands as a 24/7 contrast, a rest stop for the weary, the wary, the wounded and the wanting. It is a community treasure to heal and help all who enter.

Since July 4, 1972, thousands have found peace in this place without a preacher or a pulpit.

“People can come here and be one on one with God and not be judged,” Young said. “The Travelers Chapel is a place where they can meditate and find their own peace. It is a place for people to be one with their beliefs.”

‘It is a godsend’

In 1971, local chiropractor Gaylord Kelley discovered a small chapel on a visit to the state of Washington. Upon returning home, he sought support to build a similar chapel in Conway.

Community leaders joined forces with Kelley and together they appealed to area citizens for help and prayers.

The late Rev. Emory Young, then director of the Waccamaw Baptist Association, his son and others constructed the chapel.

“I remember when it happened,” Young said recently, sitting inside the tiny house of God he helped create. “It was July 4, 1972, and it was hot. I was putting the shingles on the roof.”

Straightway, folks were intrigued and pleased with the building that brightened the then-undeveloped landscape of U.S. 501.

“Back in those days, there were just woods between here and Myrtle Beach,” said Bonnie Hendrick, a founding member of The Iris Garden Club of Conway. “It was there that the little chapel was built. It was the little church in the valley. Every time I pass it now, I think of it as the little church in the valley, the little church in the wildwood. Many people like it. They really do.”

People from around the world vacationing on the Grand Strand have spent part of their journey at 1785 U.S. 501 E.

Folks connected to the chapel said such a place is especially needed in these increasingly troubled times.

They said people who do not feel comfortable in churches are at ease in Travelers Chapel.

“Many times, a lot of people, who are troubled who don’t want everybody to know they are troubled, will stop by there and commune with God,” said Conway City Councilwoman Vivian E. Chestnut, who helps beautify the chapel with The Iris Garden Club. “People will talk to the Lord and pray there who wouldn’t pray anywhere else. It is a godsend.”

Notebooks and needs

Two poinsettias – one Christmas red and the other coral and green – bloom within.

Two Bibles, both blue, are here, too, one on the altar, the other on a stand behind a rear pew. There are six pews in all, giving the chapel a seating capacity of 12. Outside, a white picket fence adds a crisp touch to the serene spot.

The chapel is never without Bibles, its registry and a spiral notebook. Visitors use at least one of them, sometimes all three, when they visit.

Sometimes, the Bible is open to the Book of Psalms. On other occasions, it has been turned to the Gospel according to John.

There is not enough room in the registry for the in-depth prayers people compose in the notebook under the header “Prayers to God.” It is like a confessional without a priest.

On this chilly December morning, each Bible is closed and a fresh notebook is on the altar. Young keeps pens handy and the notebook in plain sight, ensuring that anyone desiring to write can do so. When one is filled, he replaces it with another and stores the used notebooks for safekeeping.

“People need to pour out their problems,’’ said Young, the owner of The Freeze in Conway, who visits the chapel several times a week.

He rakes, fixes whatever is broken and flips through the pages of the notebook.

Like others, he is blessed and bothered by what he sometimes finds on the lined pages. Whenever he discovers prayer requests, he shares them with members of the church community.

Messages written by children tug at his heart the most.

“There is a lot of pain in this book,” said Young, as he glanced at pages. “A child will write, ‘God, please let me go back home to live with Mommy and Daddy, but I don’t want them to hurt me anymore.’ ”

There are days when children visiting the chapel will also draw pictures for Jesus, usually of God holding their hands. These children draw themselves huge smiley faces and depict Jesus as a bearded man wearing a Grecian tunic.

A number of hurting adults sign the book as well.

One such entry was from a man pleading with God to help him find his sister’s killer.

“God I know you can see the truth,” the man wrote. “Please make things right.”

Some entries are from men who realized too late, they let a good woman go. They ask God to let their loves return.

It seems all the troubles and triumphs of the world could be found in the pages through the chapel’s almost 40 years.

One day, Young’s father shared a story with him about a notebook declaration of salvation.

“Daddy came in here and found a bottle of liquor,” Young said. “He looked and saw a message that had just been written in the notebook. A man wrote, ‘I came here to kill myself, and I found the Lord instead.’ ”

The power of that singular sentence was all the proof the late Rev. Young needed to know he and the community had done the right thing.

Hope within, help without

Jim Elfers cannot remember how many times he has passed Travelers Chapel.

He never had a reason to stop, until Sept. 14.

“I was at the end of my rope, and I just wanted to write some things down,” said Elfers, a Conway resident, who is twice divorced, a father of three beautiful children and a cook. “There was a girl I was dating, and she left me for no reason at all. I felt unwanted, as I am sure a lot of people do sometimes in their lives. I’m better now because I know what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Elfers said his visit to the chapel did him good, adding that he loved what he saw.

“It is a nice, quaint and clean place,” he said. “There are a few pews there and a Bible. I have never seen anything like that place before.”

Over the years, community groups, as well as private individuals, have spruced it up.

Some are anonymous.

“We have a paint angel,” Young said. “What they do is come in and touch up the paint from time to time. I am terrible at painting. So, I really appreciate it. They are doing a tremendous amount of work, and it helps me out a lot.”

Young said the chapel is truly cared for by the entire community.

For example, Curtis Bryant, an electrician at Coastal Carolina University, assists with the lights and repairs.

“You see that hole behind that door,” said Young, pointing at a space where a small hole has been punched in the wall. “Curtis and I will probably fix that together.”

Young said Grand Strand builders, The Gideons International, the Conway Ministerial Association and area garden clubs are among a lengthy list of chapel guardians and contributors to the refuge that operates 100 percent on donations from the community and travelers.

“This has been a community project from the beginning,” he said. “There are a lot of people helping. You never know how much this place means to people until they get in here and need it.”

A notary public, Young has also married couples at the chapel. Some visit the chapel every year on their anniversaries. One couple, according to information in the registry, has visited every year since marrying at the chapel 30 years ago.

“This chapel is such a blessing,” Young said. “The community loves it, as do the people who visit it. We all take pride in it.”

Bobbie Porter, who helped with the landscape as a member of The Iris Garden Club, said she misses working at the chapel. Health problems keep her away.

“I love that little chapel to death,” Porter said. “You fall in love with it. It gets into your system.”

Most impressive, however, is the work supporters believe is done when visitors are touched by the Holy Spirit.

“Technically, the chapel may not be a church,” Young said. “Still, God is here and people find him in this little, old place.”