For years, the Salem-Baum Church on Old Baum Church Road sat empty, falling slowly into ruin.

Now, however, it’s being used again as a site for wedding ceremonies.

The stone church, which originally housed an Evangelical congregation, was built in 1883.

In 1939, the church was dissolved due to declining membership, and its members joined what is now St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Waterloo.

Steve Wheat, a member of the Salem-Baum Cemetery Association Board, said the cemetery association started up in the 1970s to preserve the property.

Wheat’s house sits on the property right next to the church, and two years ago, a couple expressed interest in having their wedding at the roofless church.

“I helped them, and we got the inside cleaned up and kept it that way,” Wheat said.

This year, there have been a total of six wedding ceremonies performed at the

church – the last of which took place this past Sunday.

Tina Eames married Brad Pearman at the church Sunday afternoon in the presence of family and friends, squeezing in the ceremony between light rain showers.

Eames has long-running family ties to the site, and said she knew she had to have her wedding ceremony there as soon as she saw it.

“My cousin and I went down there and looked at it, and as soon as I walked in, I knew it was the place,” she said. “It has so much character.”

Eames said she started doing some research on the church and found out she had family from the 1800s that belonged to the church.

“My great-great-great-grandfather was baptized in the church, and he’s buried in the cemetery out there, too,” she said. “One of his sons was also baptized and married in the church.”

Wheat attributes the growing interest in weddings at the old church in part to Facebook photos people have shared of the old building.

“People just love that old building,” he said. “I’m glad. We’re in the early stages of this whole wedding thing, but we already have one booked for May.”

He said the church is unique because of how old it is, along with the fact that it doesn’t have a roof.

“It’s an old ruin, and that makes it special,” he said. “There’s nothing around like it.”

To contact Wheat about scheduling events at the church, email whtsauto@htc.net.