Creighton C. “Peco” Forsman knows a thing or two about creating works of art with wood.

“I guess you could say it’s in my blood,” he said.

Although he was born on a farm outside of Silverhill, Forsman said, carpentry was always a part of his family. At a young age, his father moved the family from the farm into town, where he opened up a cabinet shop.

When he graduated from Robertsdale High School in 1961, Forsman went off to school at Troy University, interrupted by a six-year tour in the Navy, including time spent as a corpsman in a mobile hospital in Vietnam.

Back stateside, Forsman returned to Troy University, received his degree in 1969 and returned home to work for his father. He would leave his family business to work in sales, ending up at Alfa, where he retired in 2005.

Forsman remained active in building wooden models, collaborating on several projects with Fairhope artist Dean Mosher, including a model of the Wright Flier for the 100^th anniversary of the first flight in 2003. He has also worked with Mosher on several projects for the artist’s home, an icon in Fairhope which resembles a medieval castle.

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Forsman said, “and I consider him to be a good friend.”

Forsman has also contracted with the Fairhope Single Tax Colony to build a series of models of the steamboats that transported residents across Mobile Bay in the city’s early days. Forsman has completed six models so far, which are on display at various locations around Fairhope, with the seventh nearing completion.

Forsman’s latest project for Mosher is building a model for a maritime artwork, another project that is close to the former sailor’s heart.

Yes, Forsman does know something about woodworking.

It’s also safe to say he knows something about the history of his church, the Silverhill Evangelical Covenant Church, having served for years as the church historian.

“It happened by default sort of,” he said.

In November, the church will celebrate its 110^th anniversary.

The church’s story began with a donation of land in 1902 by Silverhill Founder Oscar Johnson. By 1903 a 30-foot by 50-foot structure was built for the Swedish congregation, and in December of that year, they were preparing for the traditional Julopta Christmas service when O.P. Forsman, Peco’s great-grandfather, moved to Silverhill from Kansas with his father, wife and 10 children.

“They attended that first Julopta service, effectively doubling the size of the congregation,” Forsman said with a smile.

The elder Forsman, who had been instrumental in organizing and building an Evangelical Covenant church in Kansas, became one of the leaders of the new church, which was the first Evangelical Covenant Church built south of the Mason Dixon Line, Forsman said.

The church was one of three Swedish churches in the early days of Silverhill. There was also a Swedish Baptist church, built around the same time as the Evangelical Covenant Church, and the Zion Lutheran Church, which was built in 1915 with the original structure remaining in the town today.

“It’s hard to know who built their church first,” Forsman said. “Many people think the Baptist church was built first, but I don’t know. The churches were all part of the community back then, and they all worked together and coordinated services for the entire town.”

The original structure served the church until 1957, when a new sanctuary was built. It remained in Silverhill until 1978, when the Blakeley Foundation was seeking to re-establish the historic town as a state park and asked to use the church building as an office space.

The structure was split into three pieces for transport by helicopter to Blakeley. Only two survived the journey—one piece was dropped during transport.

Plans were to rebuild the structure at the park, but before the pieces could be put back together, a monster storm known as Frederic hit the Gulf Coast in 1979, destroying the other two structures.

All that remains of the original church building now is the spire, which was used to construct the Mary Grice Gazebo, which still stands at Blakeley today.

With the 110^th anniversary of the church approaching, members of the Church Council wanted to do something to commemorate the original structure.

Forsman was approached about building a scale model for the structure, effectively bringing his two loves together.

Now completed, the model was built using heart pine, the same as with the original structure and is a 1:35, or three-eighths of an inch to one foot, scale model.

When the piece of the original structure was destroyed during transport, Forsman acquired a piece of the structure, which he kept for nearly 35 years before using it to construct the floors and pews in the scale model, he said.

The shingles in the structure were also made of split cypress, just like in the original structure, using local wood, Forsman said. In all, he estimates the model includes about 5,000 shingles.

The church is, for the most part, modeled after the structure as it appeared in 1910, Forsman said. The one exception is a painting of Jesus, which can still be found hanging in the structure today. The work was commissioned for the church by artist Warner Sallman in the 1940s and thus was not a part of the structure in 1910, Forsman said.

Forsman took a photo of the original painting and was able to make an exact scale on his computer using Photoshop, he said.

In all the model took two months to complete, working six days a week, eight to 10 hours a day, Forsman said.

“It truly was a labor of love,” he said. “Working on it brought back so many memories from my childhood and raising my own family in the church and it is my hope that when people look at it, those memories will be there for them also.”

Forsman plans to have the completed structure on display during the town’s Heritage Day celebration Saturday, Sept. 17. He will also be a part of the walking tours and bus tour during the celebration, giving a talk at the church as part of the tours.

Tickets will be available Saturday morning at United Bank, the historic People’s Supply Building, and the tours will begin from People’s Supply at 10 a.m. Tickets are free, but you must have a ticket to participate in the tours.