Down to Bones

This weary old Baptist church sprouted from the earth in 1895, and 130 years later, it's coming down. The graveyard out back predates the building by about thirty years, though there are only four surviving gravestones from that era. There are likely unmarked dead as well, their wooden crosses rotted long ago. The deconstruction process should be a slow one, because it seems it's being done by hand, piece by piece as time and convenience allows. I'm guessing a guy named Stan Atwell was hired for the job, because he's taken down a number of disused churches before, like the ones in Falkland Ridge and Plympton. When renovation will never happen, this is surely the next best thing. Old boards and beams removed for a new life elsewhere, far better future than an excavator to smash it all down. Sure, the job stretches on for many months, but think of this like a gentler farewell for all who loved it. No sudden implosion or violence, just a quiet dissemination of the elements that came together all those years ago. Like bugs down to bones of the dead — only natural.

May 11, 2025
West Dalhousie, Nova Scotia

Year 18, Day 6391 of my daily journal.