edit later Saint Alphonsus, Tupper Lake

 

Saint Alphonsus, Tupper Lake
(photo May 16, 2011)

Kateri Hall, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Lake George

Kateri Hall, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Lake George 2010
(photo 5/7/2011)

Named for the Mohawk woman Kateri Tekawitha beatified in 1980. Patron of the environment and environmentalists among other things. I didn't have the proper lighting equipment to do justice to this nicely carved statue. I love the bird's nest hanging on the beam like a halo above her head.

The Hall is located immediately behind the Sacred Heart Church.

From the church's website I gather that this is a 50 year old hall intended to accommodate summer visitors. Renovations began in 2010 and appear to be just about finished.


From the church website:
Kateri Tekakwitha (1656 – April 17, 1680), the daughter of a Mohawk warrior and a Christian Algonquin woman, was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York. At the age of 4 smallpox swept through Ossernenon, and Tekakwitha was left with unsightly scars and poor eyesight. The outbreak took the lives of her brother and both her parents. She was then adopted by her uncle, who was the chief of the Turtle-clan. As the adopted daughter of the chief, she was courted by many of the warriors looking for her hand in marriage. However, during this time she began taking interest in Christianity, which was taught to her by her mother.

In 1666, the Marquis Alexandre De Prouville de Tracy burned down Ossernenon. A new fort, Kahnawake, was built on the north side of the Mohawk River in what is now Fonda, New York. While living here, Tekakwitha was converted and baptized in 1676 by FatherJacques de Lamberville, a Jesuit. At her baptism, she took the name "Kateri", a Mohawk pronunciation of "Catherine". Unable to understand her zeal, members of the tribe often chastised her, which she took as a testament to her faith.

Because she was persecuted by her Indian kin, which even resulted in threats on her life, she
moved to Kahnawake, Canada where she lived a life dedicated to prayer, penitential practices, and care for the sick and aged. In 1679, she took a vow of chastity. A year later, Kateri died at the age of 24.

She is called "The Lily of the Mohawks," the "Mohawk Maiden," the "Pure and Tender Lily," 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kateri_Tekakwitha

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Lake George

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, Lake George 1874
(photo 5/7/2011)

From the church website:
On the eve of Corpus Christi, 1646, Father Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary, discovered a beautiful lake and named it the Lake of the Blessed Sacrament. He is believed to be the first European to see Lake George.

The cornerstone of this Church was laid in September 1874 in a ceremony which drew 800 onlookers, including Americans, French, and scores of Indians in full tribal dress.

VISITORS WELCOME 8:30 - 4pm
Monday-Saturday

The stained glass windows were created by J.R. Powell & Sons, London, England, and the "White Friar" trademark appears in the right panel below, on each side window. Each of the ten windows is divided into two panels and each panel portrays a chapter in the life of this devoted priest, who was canonized in 1930.


(A detailed description of the life of Father Jogues as depicted in the windows follows; http://www.sacredheartcatholiccommunity.com/custom.asp?p=2  )


In 2010 the church began an extensive renovation of Kateri Hall, which had been used to accommodate the large number of summer visitors to make it a year-round place of worship.

St Brendan's Catholic Church, Keene

St Brendan's Catholic Church, 1882  Keene
(photo 4/21/11)

This solid, square attractive building on Church St. is probably seen more from the back by travelers between the Northway and Lake Placid. On the web I find a date of 1868 for the founding of the congregation and the church was built by Father John Fitzgerald in 1883, though I thought the date above the door said 1882. I like the fretwork design of quatrefoils and crosses at the gable vergeboard.

St. Agnes Catholic Church

St. Agnes Catholic Church, Lake Placid
(photo 3/31/11)

I have little information on this church except that it was the home parish for Kate Smith who is apparently buried in the St Agnes cemetery. Also, Adirondack Churches relays a story about $50 bills in the collection plate in Julys and Augusts long ago -- the difference between summer and year-round parishioners, or for that matter churches with a tourist contingent at all.

St. Charles Borromeo/Beaver Brook Outfitters

Beaver Brook Outfitters, North Creek, 1875
(photo 9/24/2010)

This building once St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church gives a very good sense of what the other churches built by Father James A. Kelly once looked like.

Painting a steeple isn't an easy chore but somebody should figure it out soon before more extensive work is required.

St. James Catholic Church, North Creek

St. James Catholic Church, North Creek, 1875
(photo 9/24/2010)

This appears to be a modern replacement for the original church built by Father James A. Kelly which was nearly identical to the Wevertown Church (now Beaverbrook Outfitters) and the Catholic Church of the Infant Jesus in Lake Luzerne. The Outfitters building is the only one still in existence.

Adk Churches notes that Father Kelly first met William West Durant at the dedication of this church and "their ensuing friendship  had at least some influence on Durant's later decision to support the construction of two Catholic churches in the neighborhood of Raquette Lake."

Saint Mary's Church, Indian Lake

Saint Mary's Church, Indian Lake
(photo 9/26/2010)

I don't really know much about architectural styles. To me this is a modern style sort of prow-roofed cross between a chalet and a ranch done free of excess ornament in yellowish brick. I have no information on this building but I am guessing it was built after Vatican 2.

There are few examples of a real sort of regional style that I have found in churches so there is no reason to think of these more modern churches as being odd in the context of the Adirondacks except that maybe brick as an exterior doesn't ring true to the Adk aesthetic. Still this looks a well built solid, proud yet unassuming structure. Some of the newer churches move further from pride in appearance to downright solid and homely.

I am not sure what it is that these buildings say about  the communities of people  who built them, use them or live in the community with them. How have these people changed over time and what does the architecture say about that.

I hope that some of these questions will resolve themselves for me over time.

St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, Old Forge

St Bartholomew Catholic Church, Old Forge
(photo 11/19/2010)

The cornerstone gives a date of May 3, 1991 for this building which is undergoing some minor renovation.  The internets give a founding date of 1897 for the parish and the current building apparently replaces a spectacular Queen Anne style wood-frame structure built in 1899 which had an ornate if somewhat grotesque tower reaching skyward like some sort of pagoda rocket.

The current arch glulam and brick building says oh-so 1991 though some of the furnishings may have been salvaged from an older church. An odd eclecticism.

Church of the Holy Infancy

Church of the Holy Infancy, Holy Mother and Child Parish 1929/1956; formerly Church of the Infant Jesus. Catholic.
Lake Luzerne  (photo 9/24/2010)


Originally built under the leadership of Father James A. Kelly in 1876 as one of three nearly identical churches (St. Charles Borromeo in Wevertown, now Beaver Brook Outfitters; St James Catholic  in North Creek---only  St. Charles Borromeo building still exists) the current church, built in 1929, stands on route 9N in Lake Luzerne.

Church of the Assumption

Church of the Assumption, Roman Catholic Church, Gabriels. (Photo 9/26/2010)

This is a sister church to St. John's in the Wilderness (Lake Clear) in that it is of a similar design. Built by Benjamin A. Muncil in 1923. Muncil also built  St. Paul's Catholic Church in Bloomingdale about seven years later.  I believe Muncil's grave is at St. John's in the Wilderness Episcopal Church just down the road in Paul Smith's along with Clifford Pettis and Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau.

St. John in the Wilderness

St. John in the Wilderness Church, Lake Clear, NY (photo 8/24/2010)

Arts and Crafts style building built in 1917 to plans supplied by the Catholic Church Extension Society with addition and remodel in 1979.

Two later churches built nearby in Gabriels (Catholic Church of the Assumption) and Bloomingdale (St. Paul's Catholic Church) are of similar appearance.