Country Churches

Churches of all kinds are everywhere across this land and others, but what I’ve usually looked for to photograph is the rural county church. They are often sitting empty and rather weathered, but not always. Some have had active congregations for many generations and their nearby churchyards have the gravestones to prove it.

Country churches that have a deep rustic character that only time and age can give are the most interesting to me. I also like the shape of the doors and windows and the tracery above them, all fashioned from wood by good carpenters. Peeling paint over old weathered wooden siding is favored as well. An old modest steeple can usually be found on one of these buildings too, occasionally only the stub of a steeple is left from a long ago lightning strike.

It also helps if one of these places is down some great old country road too. Also interesting is that some of these churches are so old they were built from logs by the original settlers on the land. One church shown here is over 200 years old. How rare is an original log church?

A few country churches shown here were barely hanging on when I photographed them. In fact, one was torn down only a week after I visited, a place that had really lost its rustic character, if you can imagine. These old religious buildings are indeed slowly disappearing one by one, without a doubt.

Most of the houses of worship here are out of service, but there’s an exception shown too. That exception is the large cut stone cathedral still in use in Altoona PA, photographed at night under a large full moon. It’s shown in two ways, one in varied colors from the different light sources around it, and the other in an appealing black and white.

All the church pictures are available as matted prints, on canvas, or as super high gloss. As always, shipping is free to the USA. ~Andy