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W e d n e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 4, 2026
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Jan Risher LONG STORY SHORT
Pictures are more than home decor
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
Book shelves now occupy the space that once was the sanctuary for the former First Presbyterian Church of Clinton. The church has been home to Audubon Regional Library’s Clinton branch since 2023. The library previously was located on Lawyers’ Row across from the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse.
‘From a place of worship to a place of knowledge’ Former church now the Audubon Regional Library BY JOY HOLDEN Staff writer
Nestled in the East Feliciana woods is a red brick church with white columns built in 1953. However, upon closer inspection, this place for worship is now a place of knowledge, the Clinton branch of the Audubon Regional Library. Formerly the Clinton Presbyterian Church on 11023 Bank St., the Audubon Regional Library now is full of STAFF PHOTO BY JAN RISHER shelves and books instead of pews The Rev. Betsy Irvine, of Baton Rouge, and hymnals. Multiple panes of stunwas serving as minister at the Clinton ning stained glass line the walls of the Presbyterian Church in 2020. She library, and original wood floors and wooden trusses still evoke a hallowed helped the dwindling membership atmosphere. Original pendant lights find a solution on a good use for emit a soft glow. their building — so that it could still But on Sundays, the doors are serve the community. She is pictured closed. Every other day patrons are in the church-turned-library. free to walk in, use the computers, use the internet, choose and check out books. the inside was limited in space. Aubrey LeGette, a Clinton native Repurposing sacred space and the library branch manager, grew Before inhabiting the former up going to the old location. While church, the Clinton branch had been historic, the space was cramped and located in Lawyers’ Row since 1917. tight, he said. The new location, howLawyers’ Row is a strip of white, his- ever, has plenty of room for more torical buildings behind the parish books, a children’s room and space for courthouse, and although the exterior programming. “In Clinton, people like to retain the of the former library was beautiful,
historical buildings as much as they can, as opposed to tearing something down and building something brandnew. I think it was good that we were able to update the space,” LeGette said. Clinton Presbyterian Church was founded in 1855 but had moved into the building located on Bank Street in 1953. A strong presence in the community at one time, membership and attendance dwindled over time. In 2020, the Clinton Presbyterian Church congregation was down to four members, and they were discussing how to responsibly take care of their property and dispense with it. Presbyterian minister Betsy Irvine was serving there at the time, and she helped them find a solution. “We didn’t want it to be torn down and become a housing development or turn into an insurance company. We wanted something that was somewhat in line with the mission of a church,” Irvine said. Irvine and the church members started having conversations with people in town, and several mentioned that the library was a tiny space. The church and the library board met, and the church offered the building and land to the Audubon Regional Library. “We thought it would be a marvelous space for a library. It’s close to town. You can walk to it. It’s big, it’s open. It has lovely property with grass and trees, so you could have a playground,” Irvine said. After getting the community in
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For most of my life, I haven’t hesitated to hang things on the wall. My husband can verify that I’m not good at waiting in most circumstances — and that applies to putting art on walls too. Even so, he hangs art faster than I do. While I don’t overthink the process, I do like to at least consider the possibilities of the bigger picture — what goes where and with what. Meanwhile, my husband will just start willy-nilly hanging pictures on a wall with what sometimes looks to me like little rhyme or reason. Our different approaches to picture hanging have led to more than one, shall we say, conversation. Over the years, we’ve worked through the process. He has learned the wisdom of consulting me before too many nails go in the wall, and I have learned the wisdom of letting some things go. The bottom line, though, is that both of us like our surroundings to feel finished and full of things we believe are beautiful. After our house fire in August, we were able to recover most of our art, thanks to the firefighters who recognized — without ever having met us — that the art on the walls mattered to us. They saved many of our treasures. Once the artwork was cleaned and sanitized, we were able to bring it to our rental as work continues on the rebuilding process of our home. On the first day the artwork arrived, I was not surprised that my husband had hammer and nails in his hands and was getting the pictures up. We don’t expect to be here for very long, but still the pictures are on the walls. For the first time, I gave him free rein to hang the pictures however and wherever he wanted. Their topsy-turviness is endearing — and what a difference they’ve made. They brought a familiarity that was almost unsettling at first. Still, the walls did their job and helped hold our story. Hanging the artwork during this tumultuous and uncertain time has reminded me of another period of my life. Years ago, when I was young and living far from home, waiting on the next thing to become clear, I stopped hanging things on the wall. Not intentionally. Not as a declaration. I just… didn’t do it. Pictures leaned against dressers. Art lived in closets. After months of something nagging at me, I realized it was the lack of art on the walls. Even though I was a baby adult, I had never been someone who didn’t hang pictures on the walls. Bare walls almost felt wrong — like I was pretending not to be where I was. Like I was refusing to admit that this place, however temporary it felt, was still my life. The feeling began to bother me so much that I mentioned my unease to a friend. He asked why I hadn’t hung the pictures. I explained that I didn’t know how much longer I would be there and didn’t know if hanging them would be worth the effort. From there, he asked a simple ques
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STAFF PHOTO BY JAN RISHER
Pictures hanging in Jan Risher’s temporary home are somewhat topsyturvy but have added a sense of needed familiarity and warmth.