Saturday, June 24, 2017

St. Margaret's Chapel

Not much traffic heads down the Forty Hills Road on the east side of the northern Bruce Peninsula.  It's a twisty, turny, up and down narrow gravel road with some sudden sharp bends, through forests dotted with small parcels of open farmland.  And in the middle of this back road you find an exquisite small limestone church, St. Margaret's of Cape Chin.

I remember stopping here with my mother and aunt on one of our first trips up the 'Bruce'.  I must have been 14 or 15 at the time.  It's always struck me as a beautiful place in an out of the way spot.

I was surprised at how welcoming it was, so I walked in the gates and got a few pictures on a perfect sunny day.

The chapel was built starting in 1925, made of local stone and wood, with a lot of local volunteer labour.  Architecturally it is stunning, with the lancet windows, the bell tower entrance, and the gently sloping buttresses, all in light coloured dolostone.

Several Anglican churches in the peninsula have joined together to create a joint ministry, keeping several small churches open that otherwise might have closed.  This is one of the best cared for small rural church buildings I know of, even though services are only held in the summer.

Through the trees I saw what I think must have been the original Cape Chin one-room school.  It was a congregation meeting in the school that committed to building the chapel next door.

The door was open (in the middle of the week), with a welcoming note inviting visitors to come in - so I did.  It's a larger church than you'd expect in a location like this.

The stained glass design over the door was beautiful.  A lot of the stained glass windows feature wildflowers.

Although I have no particular connection here other than a memory of stopping here with my mother 55 years ago, I found it a very peaceful, spiritual place to visit.  Glad we stopped and I took a look inside.

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19 comments:

  1. gorgeous stain glass, the stone work, i love all the windows. so lovely. thanks for joining in with us. happy weekend. ( ;

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  2. Beautiful inside and out, stonework that lasts forever, and peace within those walls.

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  3. Exquisite structure -- thank you for sharing your photographs.

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  4. I'm loving the glass above the door - so pretty.

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  5. I think this must be one of the most unique churches I have seen. And it is so, so beautiful. Inside and out. I love stone fences, stone buildings, etc, so that it was appealing...but then there is just everything else about it. So glad to have seen it. If only in photos.

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  6. What a gorgeous church. So beautiful and the stained glass is gorgeous. You captured it well. Carol

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  7. Thank you for letting me see the inside of the church! :-)

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  8. Beautiful architecture and excellent photos.
    Stained glass in this church are wonderful.
    Greetings.

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  9. Hello, what a beautiful church. I love the stained glass windows. Happy Sunday, enjoy your day and the new week ahead!

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  10. What a wonderful find off the beaten path on the Bruce.

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  11. Beautiful, FG. Interesting, but attractive, architecture - curious to see a chimney emerging from the roof like that and the tower looks vaguely Spanish. Very nice.

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  12. I love the colour of the stone! And how lucky that you got to see inside. I once went looking for this church, but gave up when it became dark and stormy.

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  13. The church is a marvelous building. Someone in the group of builders knew good design. I was glad that your shared an interior view. The school house is so similar to all the wooden ones in the U.S. An entry way roof, then a coat room roof and then the roof of the school room. We have just a few of our country schools left now. I took a high school drafting class in a one room school house. It had been brought in to be a band room and then became a part of the Industrial Arts department.

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  14. Great little church, love the entrance and stained glass

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  15. It is beautiful! I think I've seen this one in a coffee table book.

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  16. A beautiful church. Just think of the times when these small beauties were buily. People helped and offered what they could. We met a beautiful church in Sprague Washngton--it was/is a beauty. In fact we were in the area on a Sunday and stopped to enjoy Mass. The pastor is also pastr to 2or 3 othere small town churches so on Sunday goes from on to another 1hr and ahalf part. This one also was filled with wonderful stained glass also
    Interesting
    MB

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  17. If I'm ever up in that Cape Chin area again I will surely seek out that old church. I love the architecture in those types of buildings and for sure would like to have a look inside.

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