After viewing Wisconsin’s Natural Bridge and traveling down the road a bit, you can see a different stone structure. The limestone Our Lady of Loretto church closed in 1960 but the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now used as a museum.
Our Lady of Loretto Museum
On a hill in southwestern Wisconsin, a small chapel built in 1903 overlooks the valleys emerging from long winter as signs of spring begin to emerge. The small shrine was rededicated to Our Lady of the Fields in 1958 by Bishop William O’Connor.
With the spring planting underway, ladies and men are working in the fields and inside the shrine is a statue of Saint Isidore, the patron saint of farmers.
Our Lady of the Fields Shrine
Saint Isidore
While the bells may not toll for services on a regular basis for this church, with the sliver of the moon on the right side of the cross in the sky, it makes a pretty image for a Sunday morning. I couldn’t find much history on the Millston Union Church, other than for the second wedding in September, in which the altar was banked with lilac leaves and decorated with mixed garden flowers.
Millston Union Church
Built in 1891 on the south end of Superior, Wisconsin, the Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church made several journeys. The first journey was just a move of a few blocks down in 1898 but the second move was about 120 miles south to the city of New Richmond to be part of the Heritage Center.
When the church opened, services were held in both the German and English language in the early days as the industrial center of Superior had a large German immigrant population but even before the Great Depression, many factories had closed and membership dwindled until the church closed around the 1970’s.
Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Although a cooler morning than yesterday, the snow overnight missed this area and a hazy sun is out on this Sunday morning. (Last year on January 25th when this picture was taken, the sun was out brighter but the wind was blowing strong and causing drifts to form on the road.)
The Marsh Lake Cemetery surrounds the Bethany Church but the lack of footprints leading to the door suggests that the church is no longer used on a regular basis, especially in the winter time.
Church Forgotten in the Winter
You often hear the saying that ‘timing is everything’. Well my timing was off this fall, since whenever I had an appointment and would be traveling somewhere, either the autumn leaves hadn’t turned yet or in this case, I was too late and the leaves had already fallen off the trees. With a ring of trees encompassing the church, I imagine it would have been a beautiful view, but one I didn’t get to witness this year.
Although this view of the church might look very similar today, if there was sunshine instead of thick fog, since after two months of early winter, it was warm enough over night to melt most of the snow away (at least temporarily that is). Built in 1922, this country church still is standing proudly.
Saint Johns Church
It seems like in photography to get a good picture is 99% luck and I didn’t have good luck with this church picture for the timing of taking an autumn scene. The hillsides were changing into their colorful array on my way to an appointment until I got to the church where only a hint of color was showing and since it was too early in the day, the sun hadn’t moved into the correct position yet but at least the clouds were pretty that day so one out of three pieces fell in place. I wasn’t able to get back to the area later to get the full color but maybe next year I will have better luck.
Hint of Color at St. Katherine’s
This Sunday’s picture is another non-white rural church but does have a slight connection with last week’s picture. Last week’s church was rebuilt after a tornado and was where my mom attended as a child and this week’s church was rebuilt after a fire on a winter morning in 1945. (Since I wasn’t born yet, I don’t know if the original church was white or not.) The present structure was finished in 1952 and is where I have attended most of my life. It is also the church from which we held the funeral services for my father last month and today some of dad’s relatives are coming to visit since the snow storm won’t arrive until tomorrow.
St. Bridget’s Church
The area called Bears Grass near Augusta, WI, required a lot of brush clearing and tilling to become productive farm land when the first pioneers settled the area in 1855. As more settlers arrived, the St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church was built in 1893.
Slightly over a hundred years later, the church was de-sanctified in 1996 because of declining church attendance and the need for extensive maintenance and repairs. It is now a private residence.
Church Faded into History
While no longer serving the spiritual comforts of its former parishioners, it appears that at least the old St. Mary’s Catholic church in Port Wing, WI, which was closed in 1999, is providing some kind of comfort yet and not totally abandoned to fade into ruins. I wonder if the bell tower is high enough to see over the other buildings to watch the Lake Superior waves rolling into the bay. It could be an interesting spot to watch the sunrise and sunsets from.
Still Providing Comfort
