Old West Church

 Lately I've been trying to go out for walks on the days that I don't actually make it into the gym. There are days when my legs are simply a lot worse than others, and I've had a slew of terrible days later. As I told my neurologist recently, there are days when I simply feel like I'm losing the ability to walk (which I think I mentioned in an earlier post, sorry for repeating). Still, you have to fight on, and so I'm forcing myself out to walk, although it's awfully painful. Yesterday I walked around the grounds of the Old West Church, which I'm sure had something to do with reading Weston Cate's Forever Calais. From the very beginning it was designed to be ecumenical. 

In 1828 the first apportionment was made with usage of the meetinghouse on Sundays divided as follows: Baptists 10 Sabbaths; Universalists 20; Congregationalists 9; Christians 6; Free Will Baptists 4; and Methodists 3. Twenty years later the division was Universalists 32; Congregationalists 7; Methodists 5; Baptists 4; and Christians 4. (Cate, 77)

I suppose, if I'm honest with myself, one of the reasons why I'm interested in this local history is that our time here is coming to an end. If all goes according to plan, a year from now we'll be in Sicily, on the first leg of the great move. 

Inexplicably, I've never actually been in the building, which isn't open that often. There's always a Christmas Eve service, which we always say we're going to attend, but never do. I think this year I'm going to insist.

I'd always heard that the back of the structure is painted red, but I finally got around to finding out that it's true. Apparently, at least according to legend, red paint was cheaper than white paint, so, to save money, the back was painted red; and now it's just tradition. This shot was taken from the cemetery at the back of the property.