Freaktography—Photographer, Urban Explorer, Recreational Trespasser

A rarity among Ontario’s abandoned places are churches, Ontario’s back roads are full of vacant and abandoned homes and buildings, however churches are a rare find. Cities like Detroit, Buffalo and other U.S. cities offer a full range of abandonments, including churches from large cathedral like to smaller community churches.

Located in a small town in Southern Ontario, many people have probably driven past this church and paid it no attention. The grounds seem to be maintained and there is a cemetery on the property, many of the graves with freshly laid flowers. The outside looks like most older rural churches and there are no real external signs of abandonment.

I walked the perimeter of this church looking for any signs of life or recent activity, no signs of activity could be found anywhere and it was quickly determined that this church was abandoned.

The interior smelled of dust and years of abandonment. Oddly, the inside looked almost as though the last service had taken place just last Sunday. All of the chairs were perfectly lined up inside, a pillow still sat on the front row pew and bibles still stacked on some chairs.

The chairs, bibles and floors were coated with a thick layer of dust, the air inside was thick and old and there was a great deal of water damage and mold growing on the walls. Spider webs stretched from the walls onto the perfectly lined up chairs.

At the front of the abandoned church sits the piano, silenced from years of vacancy and also coated with dust and topped off with a bouquet of artificial flowers.

Sitting, still opened to the last song played was the song book. “Songs from Testimony,” from which the last song to be played was “O How I Love Jesus” written and composed by Frederick Whitfield in 1855, 42 years before this church was opened.

“There is a Name I love to hear,
I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music in my ear,
The sweetest Name on earth.”

As I explored this small room, periodically interrupted by the pitter-patter of the raccoon’s now living in the ceiling, I found a number of very interesting items:

A stack of bibles across the front of the room, coated in dust and pigeon waste:

The list of readings for the day of the last service:

“We Are a Separated People:

Atop the alter at the head of the church sat the priests glasses along with a list of his notes for the day:

Sitting on a wooden table behind the alter was a large heavy leather bound bible, worn and weathered from years upon years of use. With the church being over 100 years old, it’s a great thought that this bible may have been here since the churches opening day:

Not wanting to overstay my welcome I grabbed a few more shots of the stained glass windows and of the cemetery outside. Since this visit, I have seen a few other small rural abandoned churches, but none with the atmosphere or quality of this one.