After the Methodists Left
Maybe you recall my experience with the Rude Canadian, where Ehpem and I were “invited” to leave a parking garage we were photographing?
It’s still pretty clear in my mind, so it made me nervous when I made my first images of this old church and heard someone shouting at me from across a field. Turns out, it was the church’s owner, a very friendly man named Patrick. And he was asking me if I’d like to see the interior of the building, which was a decommissioned Methodist church. Naturally, I said yes, and Patrick showed me all around, told me about their plans for renovation, and their newer plans to sell the place and move back to British Columbia. And – this was the best part! – he let me ring the church bells. That reminded me of the Dorothy Sayers mystery The Nine Tailors (that’s logical, I promise – read the book and you’ll see what I mean) and I hoped no one was up there in the belfry.
After that, I settled down and got on with the business at hand, which was making a few dozen images of Patrick’s church.
near Trout Cove, Nova Scotia
photographed 7.28.2015
Posted on August 23, 2015, in Photography and tagged 365 photo project, abandoned buildings, abandoned church, architecture, melinda green harvey, Methodist church, NIK Silver Efex Pro 2, Nova Scotia, one day one image, photo a day, photography, postaday, Trout Cove Nova Scotia. Bookmark the permalink. 23 Comments.
One Day | One Image 
What a great bit of luck!
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We’d actually gone by this church earlier in the day, but it was raining and we didn’t stop because we were going to be passing it again later in the day. I’m glad we waited for the rain to stop!
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The right decision!
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Did you know the Methodists have an actual service to de-consecrate a church building? My Dad attended one and said it was a lovely service.
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I’m from a long line of Methodists, and I’ve never heard about that service; I’d like to go to one, though. Thanks for telling me about them!
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The little church I grew up in merged with an even smaller congregation because they had gotten to be too small to maintain the sanctuary where they were. The building was deconsecrated and sold to a local businessman with a good reputation.
It makes sense to have a service like that if you believe in the holiness of a place.
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I love it that the church was sold to someone with a “good reputation.”
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Nice photo! Good story! I love when I meet friendly people while out shooting photos! 🙂
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Thanks, Mark. It adds a lot to the experience, doesn’t it, when people stop for a chat?
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It makes it’s *real* and more personally meaningful for me! Photography is great, but human interaction is everything in the end! 🙂
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I’ve been working my entire life to get over being shy, so having conversations with people I happen to meet is relatively new for me. But it’s almost always a wonderful experience, and I try to think about how many things I’ve missed by not striking up conversations with people!
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I’m really the same Melinda! I think that’s what pushed me into the arts – an excuse to do things in seclusion, but shyness has always been a handicap for me doing anything with it. Small steps can slowly change things for the better! 🙂
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We just THOUGHT photography was a solitary pursuit! Classic bait-and-switch tactic. (Glad to know you’re a kindred spirit!)
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Or *subconsciously* hoped it would be a route out of solitude! 🙂
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I used to write quite a bit, which with my subject matter, truly was a solitary endeavor; I didn’t really ever imagine that photography would be any different. I somehow thought it would all be done in a vacuum. I was wrong, of course.
This part about having chats with people surprises me, because I find that I enjoy it. I figure the next thing will be that I’ll start to photograph actual people…!
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Great photo! Sad though to see it empty. The pews are so interesting, never seen them like this, a great idea. I am glad the owner didn’t give you the rude treatment. I remember your post on the garage, what have they to hide…
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Thanks, John. My spouse talked with Patrick while I was shooting, so I didn’t hear the full story on those pews. But I gathered that at some point, the church didn’t have a center aisle, but had two outside ones. Then, a bride-to-be wanted to follow the “new” style of a center aisle, so the old pews were sawed apart and realigned.
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Good Lord, that’s a lot of customising for her wedding! It bothers me to see houses of worship let go like this but money talks, right…
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There’s a chance the story’s been, well, embellished over the years. But the shape of the pews makes me think *something* odd happened to them.
There seemed to be quite a few abandoned churches in the parts of Nova Scotia that we visited. I made up a short-hand term to describe them oobkirk (for Out Of Business Church). Over the course of our visit, that term saved a lot of conversational time!
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Good thing you are finding some polite Canadians. It’s a shame you had to go so far to do so.
Nice church shot!
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Oh, I’ve found LOTS of polite Canadians, on both sides of the country. (I presume there are some in the middle as well.)
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Oh those rowdy Methodists…
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There are some people who would think “rowdy Methodists” is redundant… I can neither confirm nor deny being one of them.
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