By Lauren Carnes, Reporter

Edited by Katelyn McCook, Editor

Frost Chapel, a popular wedding and events venue on the Berry College campus, has been undergoing renovations for the past year.

The venue, located on the Berry College campus in Rome, Georgia, has been a place of matrimony for many couples from surrounding communities for more than 80 years. Due to its popularity and age, renovations to the building are now underway.

Assistant Director for Hospitality and Event Services, Allie Early, said the renovations aim to restore and maintain original pieces of the chapel.

“The first big project that the college did last year was renovating and restoring these beautiful windows. The iron work is original,” she said. “The glass was actually bowing out because of the different changes in temperatures. Over the years, the glass started to move, and we wanted to save those windows and keep the iron work. You can see that it was reinforced with bars, and each cross was welded. That took about a year to finish that, and it happened in stages.”

Early also mentioned another renovation in progress is the addition of air conditioning in the chapel.

“We are hoping to have that done by next August.” she said.

According to Early, the process has taken some time because parts have not yet been delivered. The college also plans to repaint the chapel’s interior, Early said.

A large component of the process leading up to the renovations was receiving donations from alumni as well as others for the project, said Early. The college accepted a donation for the windows from an alum during Alumni Work Week in May.

According to Early, the space is used weekly, and the chapel is currently booked up every Saturday for weddings until June. Outside of weddings, the chapel is used approximately one to two times a month for internal events like concerts and dedication ceremonies. After the renovations have been completed, the college hopes that the space will be used for even more internalized events, particularly summer weddings.

Previously, a Berry affiliation was needed to rent the chapel for events. However, the requirement was lifted in November of 2021. The 20% discount in place for those with an affiliation still remains.

Frost Chapel was built by Berry students and staff in 1937. Martha Berry was working to develop the Mountain Campus, and there was a need for a chapel. She put a sign at the bottom of the hill where Frost Chapel now resides that read: “Chapel needed.”

Mr. and Mrs. Howard Frost, from California, had been visiting the campus when they decided to fund the project. They requested that the chapel be named after their son, John Frost, who died in his youth.

Scott Breithaupt, Associate Vice President for Advancement, said conversation of renovations have been brought up on several occasions in the past.

“The idea of climate control for the building has come up off and on over the years.” he said.

Breithaupt also said the addition of climate control would assist in the conservation of the chapel.

“We also realized in talking with some of our preservation people who are helping us that adding climate control would probably help long-term with the preservation of the entire building,” he said. “The wide swings in the humidity and temperature over time begins to hurt the wood and the stone.”

According to Breithaupt, the physical plant team brought in several experts to consult for the project. One of these individuals was Berry College alumnus, Jennifer Dickey.

“Jennifer Dickey, who is a Berry graduate, and she’s a professor at Kennesaw State. Jennifer advises us on a lot of our preservation needs,” he said. “We also brought in like three different climate control firms to give bits and ideas of how to do this.”

According to Breithaupt, the main concern everyone had was how install climate control while also remaining faithful to the original design of the chapel. He said that these conversations are what led to the establishment of a budget for the project. Discussion of repairing the windows and the addition of air conditioning led to other areas of the chapel being replaced with new equipment. . Broken sandstone shingles, copper gutter work, and downspouts were replaced.

Information about the renovations and the donations needed spread rapidly through word of mouth, said Breithaupt. A one-page marketing flyer was sent out to potential donors. The advancement team marketed to people they felt would have an interest in the project. According to Breithaupt, there are two sizes of windows in the chapel. Alumni donors who gave $25,000 or more were awarded the option of being recognized with a bronze plaque near the smaller windows. Alumni donors who gave $50,000 or more were awarded the option of being recognized with a bronze plaque near the larger windows. In total, there were 685 donors for the project.

Associate Professor of Communication and Department Chair, Curt Hersey, is among those who have been married in the chapel. Hersey and his wife are Berry graduates.

“We met at Berry. Berry was a special place for us in terms of our relationship,” he said. “We both independently spent time at Frost Chapel just as a kind of place of hanging out and a place to reflect.”

Hersey said they did not consider any other wedding venues.

“We also love kind of gothic architecture. We knew we didn’t want anything modern or like traditional churchy,” he said. “The style and the personal connection made it the place we wanted to be.

Frost Chapel has been a cherished venue at Berry College for quite some time. The renovations aim to preserve the beauty of this building and all the history that comes with it.