Jon Crispin's Notebook

The Church of the Holy Cross in Troy, NY was built in two stages in the 1840s.  The nave was built in 1844 from a design by Alexander Jackson Davis.  It is a very beautiful building which sadly is no longer a church.  When the congregation dropped below twenty, the writing was on the proverbial wall.  It was decommissioned (if that is the correct word) about a year ago.  RPI is in the process of purchasing the  building, which I suppose is good.  I have such mixed feelings about buildings being used for something other than their original purpose.  I am sure RPI will treat it with respect, and I hear that there are covenants in the sale agreement to protect the integrity of the building (it is on the National Register of Historic Places).  /  After Craig Williams and the Museum crew left, Fred Cawley was kind enough to give me a bit of a tour.  Craig had encouraged me to go up the bell tower, and after shooting the nave and chancel, Fred and I went through a very narrow door and made the climb.

Lots of dead pigeons on the way up, and there seemed to be lots of live ones up by the bells.

And those ones flew around like crazy when I pulled on the yellow ropes.  I really had no idea that they were connected anymore, and it was quite a surprise to hear the sound of bells above me. / I am not sure what the purpose of this box is, but it might be part of the clock mechanism.  Quite a magical morning.