Driving through Lunenburg, VT

On my way home Friday this building caught my eye. It was the symmetry, and then those upstairs windows, or former windows. This building was adjacent to a beautiful old church, actually it had old churches on either side. All of these buildings lined the town green in Lunenburg, Vermont. There was also a bandstand, festooned with patriotic decoration and a sign indicating that Old Home Day was the coming Saturday.

I parked and got out to make a few photographs. While I was photographing the above, what seemed to maybe have been a parsonage, a car pulled in (I found out later that my guess was wrong, it was the Old Town Hall). Some folks began unloading things. I figured I'd better get my photographs and be on my way. I was composing a frame of the church, and noting the open door, figured it might just be worth moving slow enough to also capture a person in the scene.

After somewhat conspicuously making my photo, we began to chat about the buildings. She insisted I look inside, and I am so glad she did. It was unlike any church I have been inside of, which in all honesty is likely a shockingly low number, but anyway, it was an amazingly ornate and beautiful space. She explained to me how it had been rehabilitated and the man who performed the restoration purposefully bid low because, "He just wanted to spend time in this space". We gawked together at the detail, new to me and yet after many years, it was still seemingly equally impressive to her.

She was being generous with her time, but I could tell she had work to do in order to prepare for the following day. Before I left she pointed out the other church, noting that it dated back to before the Civil War. I googled it, or "searched it up" as my kids say, and it was built in 1837. I declined an offer to be let inside, how could it possibly surpass what I had just seen? I did make a few photographs before thanking her and heading back towards home. If you are so inclined, there's a lot more about these buildings here: topofthecommon.org