A twenty minute ferry ride from Crofton on Vancouver Island brings you to Vesuvius on Salt Spring Island. It is a beautiful little island. Farms and small churches cover the landscape. I have photographed many of its churches (all from the outside which of course is way to small a part of the whole story, as the inside is always missing). One church I always drive by admiring it in passing and nearly driving of the winding road because of that is St Marks Anglican church. It is one of the three Anglican churches on this small island. Reading up on some history I found out that it has four cemeteries here and there on the island. Anyway that is just part of historical development.
These days when going to Salt Spring I often leave my car in Crofton and walk on the ferry at a substantial saving. In Vesuvius I catch a ride and let the day begin. Today, with the idea that the light could be right for a few photos of St Marks on its nicely hilled property, I decided to walk to the ferry. The walk takes an hour and a bit but there is always someone who knows you and wonders whether you’d like a ride. This time it was a Vesuvius local, him and his wife and grand daughter. It was such nice visiting including a beach walk and very pleasant conversation.
But that was after the photo shoot of this little church that has been on my list for nearly a dozen years. Here are some of the photographs.
The construction of this building began in the late eighteen eighties and the church was in use early eighteen nineties. Always looking at gates checking for originality or creativity or voluptuousness or just the light on them, these fit in at least one of those categories. Harry can easily be googled.
It should be nice to take a few photos on the inside, especially since that is the way to do stained glass justice. Perhaps some day, not necessarily another twelve years. There is an incredible amount of information on Salt Spring Island’s history, but one source that I like, partly because it is written so long ago, is here.
It’s a beauty isn’t it.
