World's Smallest Church

This post was originally written for Tuesday, May 27, but the tornado barged in and took over for awhile:

P.S. - Judy, in British Columbia, at her My Front Porch blog, is collecting travel post links this week. Visit there to enjoy some armchair sightseeing!!!

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On Friday, May 23, it rained all morning, and as a result, over the lunch table, Husband stated that his plan for the afternoon was make the hour-long drive to Fort Atkinson to buy netwrap for the round baler. He kindly asked if I would like to ride along. I kindly replied, "No", glancing at the clutter on the kitchen island, knowing I should stay home and take care of that; plus, the idea of sitting two hours in the pickup didn't sound fun for some reason. Then a light bulb flickered ON in my mind, and hoping to strike a deal, I said to Husband, "I'll go along if you'd be willing to stop at the little church so I can take some pictures." He nodded his agreement to that proposal, so I threw the camera in my purse and off we went.

The "World's Smallest Church", as it is referred to on Iowa maps (although, it probably isn't really the world's smallest church), is situated on a gravel road amidst tree-covered hills and farms, west of Festina, Iowa. We approached it from the west, as we headed south out of Fort Atkinson. We were a bit lost for awhile----- the roads go every which way in that area-----and drove by several large dairy set-ups, which Husband enjoyed looking at. Finally, we reached our destination, where this sign at the front gate explains the small church building's origin.

What a lovely afternoon for taking pictures.......a clear sky and lots of sun, providing plenty of contrasting shadows.

Inside the silent church are four pews, and a serene altar surmounted by a statue of St. Anthony of Padua, about whom I know very little.

Behind the limestone church building is a tiny cemetery, adorned with flower beds.

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The statue below stands in the yard behind; the pedestal is engraved with her title, "Our Lady of the Seven Dolors", as this chapel was a mission of the parish by that name in the nearby town of Festina. Her photo needed some touching up; the poor Lady appeared to have a beard on one side of her face due to dark lichen patches. So, I fiddled with the contrast and darkening buttons until she looked a tad bit better.

The dictionary definition of dolor is "sorrow", so evidently, she is "Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows". Notice she has seven little swords piercing into her heart. Very moving symbolism, in my opinion, for a mother or father to ponder, or any person who has ever loved another. I'm not Catholic, and thus not familiar with this particular personification of Mary, but presumably her sorrow is related to seeing her Son, Jesus, suffer and die on the Cross.

I love the look of old limestone buildings, and the accompanying brickwork. These stained glass windows were quite lovely, too, although I didn't take any photos of them from inside the church.

Husband and I wandered around the peaceful churchyard and gawked for maybe a half-hour, giving us a brief, but pleasant interlude in a normal workday. Down the road from is a sand or gravel pit, and dump trucks roared by several times, the drivers giving us a friendly wave. There are two farmsteads quite close, also.

Upon leaving, we headed south and soon encountered this unique bridge over the Turkey River.

Soon the road wound us back to county road W14 just north of St. Lucas, where I snapped a quick photo of the twin church steeples as we drove through town. Several years ago-----Husband had sent me to Ft. Atkinson for netwrap-----I drove up the hill to this church in St. Lucas, to see the name of it (which I now cannot recall). I knew it must be a Catholic church, because this is a heavily Catholic area, just like our home area is mainly Lutheran, because that's who settled there. I know there's lots of people of Czech-Bohemian, and German, ancestry in this area of Iowa, although a few of the names on the gravestones at the little church looked French.

That day several years ago, I had driven our old Dodge Ram van to pick up the netwrap roll in. It was in the fall, and the day was very chilly. At the implement dealership where I got the netwrap, I had rolled down my window to tell the guy thank-you for loading it, and when I pushed the button to roll the window up, it WOULDN'T work. So, the window was wide open all the way home......an hour's drive! Luckily, I had brought along a scarf and gloves, but it was still a cold ride!

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What this post is trying to say is: If you ever find yourself in northeast Iowa, be sure to consider visiting the World's Smallest Church!!