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Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Church of Nature's Bounty

      The building is nestled in second growth woodlands above the head of a ravine.  The area was formerly a source of lead ore (galena), but the mines have played out and production has moved elsewhere.

Country Chapel from Woodward's Country Homes 
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    The building is constructed of the native stone.  Anyone walking up to the door will notice that it's built right over the end of the ravine (dark green area on the right) that Fever Creek flows down.  Looking back a few steps along the edge of the ravine, onlookers will see that there is a partial wall under the building, with a ten to twelve foot gap in the center.  Unless someone is under the chapel with a light source, it's pitch black underneath.

     The interior is strikingly bare, with only a few pews around the walls.  Any one examining the stained glass windows will see illustrations of various scenes from the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.  Eve being tempted, Moses and the bronze serpent on the pole; Isaiah 14:29 and such.  The floor is scuffed and scratched in the center as if groups of people often milled around in the same area.  The investigators footsteps echo from below as the cross the room.

     In the vestibule is an overhead trapdoor, accessible by a stepladder found in the room behind the pulpit.  The trapdoor has a padlock on it.

    Across from the vestibule is a small area containing a narrow staircase leading down.

    Chained to the pulpit is an English language translation of Creencias de los Salvajes Indios.

Church of Nature's Bounty - Main Floor

     The lower level is essentially one big open room, the walls of the ravine have been roughly finished with the native stone to provide a level foundation for the building above.  The right hand side is open to the ravine, the left hand side is a ten foot passage hewed out of the stone, it Y's a few feet in - possibly an entrance to one of the old lead mines.

Church of Nature's Bounty - Ravine level

 

     

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