The Chapel in the Woods

While surfing the net looking for other people's pictures of the Cross Tipped Churches, I stumbled upon a rather unusual one of a relief of Purgatory. And much to my surprise it was taken at a place I had already been many times, and not once I had I seen or heard anything about a chapel in the woods.



So I had to revisit the Maria Stein Center to find just where this was. When they told me you could of knocked me over with a feather. I had been by it many times in my walk a bouts but thought it was a playhouse for children because of its diminutive size and proximity to a play ground.



According to the sisters it had not always been a chapel. It was first used by the sisters to process maple sap and was called the Sugar House. What I found inside was this simple but amazing altar. I was touched to see the tokens of thanks and petitions for prayer. .



The chapel even had a complete set of The Stations of the Cross. These were hand carved wood reliefs with a hint of stain for color.



This relief of Purgatory looks even more distressed than it did in the photo I saw on the Internet. Being at ground level and open to the elements it has seen its share of abuse. The whole subject of Purgatory is a fascinating one and one I plan to explore further.



If I can ever find the time, I think I would like to see if I could restore the look of this in PhotoShop. Just what I need another project.