http://www.vpr.net//audio/programs/56/2013/02/MCCA-020313.mp3
(Host) In winter, Vermonters can see further across the stark landscape,noticing things that are less visible with foliage on the trees. Educator, writer and commentator Mary McCallum says it offers a better view of an architectural detail that serves as a beacon to travelers and churchgoers alike.
(McCallum) When you approach a Vermont village by way of a wide open landscape, what you often see first is a white steeple that punctuates the sky and announces the location of a church. Early American villages commonly made their churches the tallest buildings in town and the heart of the community, visible by their graceful spires.
My own small town has four steeples of varying height that go largely unnoticed until they need painting or repair. And while there is no entry for steeplejack in the current Occupational Outlook Handbook, they are the fearless workers that are still called upon to scale the heights to patch the holes and renew peeling paint. In 1891, a hardy crew re-anchored the 190-foot steeple on Rutland's Grace Congregational Church after church fathers discovered it was swaying dangerously during high winds.
Now, I'm not a churchgoer, but I've always taken note of historic houses of worship when traveling. I remember a small city on the Missouri River with a sky pierced by a forest of spires, and wondered how all those nineteenth century buildings got filled on Sundays. As a child, I remember being amazed by alone white clapboard roadside church that relied on a neon sign announcing 'Jesus Saves' to make its presence known - instead of its short, unimpressive tower. Here, we're not usually quite so flashy - and steeples are still the most common visual guideposts for finding a church.
I first became aware of this phenomenon through an online article with the alarming headline, How the Internet is Killing Off Church Steeples. The premise is that as steeples age, maintenance costs rise and congregations shrink, the church spire has outlived its usefulness as a signpost. People now rely on the internet to find churches, with Google reporting that quick 'searches for churches' spike just before every religious holiday.
Yet the technology that enables us to find a church with just a keystroke may also provide the funds for preserving steeples that are in need of repair and restoration - as cash-strapped churches buy into the trend of renting out their church steeples as cell phone towers.
Even the historic Brandon Congregational Church has sprouted one of these towers without changing the mission of its white cupola and steeple. While the tower silently transmits and receives the thousands of radio signals that allow area cell phone users to stay connected, the old steeple supporting it continues to announce to those who take the time to look up, Here we are, this is the place, you have arrived.
Not so very long ago,every Vermont village had a clearly visible center, recognizable from a distance, and distinguished by an architectural convention that was both spiritual and utterly practical.
And these iconic white spires punctuating the landscape continue to shine as beacons for us today.
