intoxication nurseryman: North Church, New Haven CT Green

Monday, April 2, 2012

North Church, New Haven CT Green - Olympus E-PL2 with 9-18mm

This week I got a rare opportunity... The bell in the steeple of the North Church on the New Haven Green needed some repair... It's a beautiful old church built in Federal style by David Hoadley in 1814. In any event, the funeral peal clapper had pulled loose and it needed to be re-affixed. A friend of mine is one of the congregation and got permission to work with one of the staff to fix it. i got to tag along and take photos. The bell itself is interesting... a George H. Holbrook made at Medway Massachusetts in 1856. George H. Holbrook was regarded as the foremost bell maker in America in his time. George's father was one Major George Holbrook - it is an interesting fact that Major Holbrook in early life had been an apprentice in the bell foundry and clock-making business to Paul Revere, of Revolutionary fame. As to the reputation of the Holbrook bells, they were everywhere celebrated. They were exhibited at the industrial exhibitions throughout the country, and came in competition with the bells of others, and always achieved the highest awards; and never, in a single instance, receiving any but the highest award.

In any event, upon climbing to the steeple, I determined to climb higher, yet another two to three stories above the bell. In a small room with windows all around I was confronted with a 360 degree view of New Haven. Some of the window glass is original and nearly opaque. But the windows facing First Church, also known as Center Church, were clear and relatively clean. This too is a historic church... the Congregation was established in 1639. The current First Church as depicted here was designed in Georgian style by architect Ithiel Town, and was built in 1812. The Center Church Crypt contains the identified remains of about 137 people, and the likely remains of over 1,000 that are unidentified. Sarah Rutherford Trowbridge has the oldest dated stone (1687) in the Crypt. I'll be visiting this in a week or so...

Here are some photos I took from North Church looking across to Center Church. The reflection in the window was by choice. I wish I'd "chosen" to shoot with a PL too just to see what the result would have given.

I am not sure which of these two I prefer... I think I like the first, skewed as it is. any attempt to straighten it would skew it one side or the other too much, and my tools for perspective correction do not address this lens. I do somehow like the odd composition it represents. Here I attempted to stitch several together. Something of a failed attempt, but still interesting.

Another interesting attempt... despite the roughness of the room as shown previously, note the beautiful window detail at the top. This treatment is echoed throughout the church, and you will see it repeated in the photo of the facade below...

Here's a link to photo I did not take. File:NorthChurchNewHavenGreen.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It is here for some perspective on where these photos were taken. If you look at the uppermost tier of windows just under the dome in the steeple, the two farthest away to the right side are the one through which i shot.

The following was shot one floor down, or in the chamber just above the bell.