The Historic Egg Hill Church

After more than 30 years, I finally found the historic Egg Hill Church and photographed it.

The story begins in the late 1970s when it appeared the church was going to be torn down. The CDT was filled with stories and photographs about the church and I set out with my first single lens reflex camera (a Minolta) to record the church before it disappeared.

Mind you, the best photographs had already been done by Dick Brown, then the lead photographer for the CDT, who is still an active  photographer and whose work is exhibited at, among other places, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. One of Brown's most dramatic photographs looks up the road to the church.

Lo those many years ago, I never found the church. Fortunately for me, the church was saved and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Inspired by some Facebook friends, I decided to try again. This time, though, I had Google maps and a GPS to guide me and it was an easy find, even though the church is on a dirt road named Egg Hill Road off Skunk Road off Sinking Creek Road.

Now I know why Dick's most dramatic shot looks up the road. The church is on the crest of a hill and backs onto woods and leaves you little room to photograph from the high angle. Besides, on the low side there's a cemetery and capturing a tombstone or two in your photographs makes for a better shot.

The church is not as elegant as I remember it from Dick's photographs. It needs paint  and the property is now surrounded by an inelegant chain link fence. There are gates to let you inside the perimeter, although I took one of my better shots from the low end outside the fence and managed to keep the fence out of the frame. When I processed my photos, I converted them to black and white, which seemed to fit the mood of the foggy day.

I'm going to return when autumn's colors dominate and shoot again. Two of my current photos are in my online gallery.