St Michael's Roman Catholic Church

St Michael's Roman Catholic Church was our second stop with an afternoon with my parents . I took everyone here for two reasons: first, Charlene loves visiting ruins, and secondly, my father built churches for much of his career.

The church was devastated by fire over thirty years ago but had been abandoned for much longer. It served the Roman Catholic community during the mid-1800s and is the only remaining building from the tiny hamlet that used to be in the area. It is, in fact, a ghost town. Never reaching more than 100 residents, the land would revert back to farmland which the area still is currently. Today, all that remains is the bell tower and the cemetery of the church-goers that span nearly a century. The ruins are maintained, which is nice, to help remember the region's history. 

I chose this site for the reasons listed above and that it was close to the road. The snow was deep in spots but manageable for us to wade through. I told my family that this place was destroyed by fire, but that evidence was either covered up by the snow or by the recent efforts to preserve the rest of the ruins. 

Charlene enjoys exploring old ruins. It is a moment of history that is preserved. Here was a hamlet of faithful Catholic farmers nearly two centuries ago who built a church and other buildings. Today, the area looks different. Without the church, nothing would indicate that there was anything here other than farmland. We have been to so many places where the ruins that we explore are found in vastly different areas they used to be. Old churches, old mills, old farms, all now in forested areas, or in the middle of a city or somewhere that is now radically different than what was around them when it was initially built. It is a small proof that times change and can change quickly.

My father was a church-builder. I do not know how many churches he had built in his career. He had built churches of all sizes, including some big ones in the Toronto area. This church served its congregation until 1952. Dad would have only been two, but this style of the church was and still is, very common, and he would have attended churches similar to this one. I could tell he was looking at the remaining structure and trying to glean how it was built.

As with many churches, there is a cemetery on its property. Snow covered so many of them—some dated to the mid-1800s and all the way to the mid-1900s. When we are touring the country, we do stop at older cemeteries. My father felt uncomfortable walking on the graves of people, but I see the exploration of the tombstones as an act of respect. For everyone in this, and other cemeteries, the stone is the only remaining proof that they existed. Most documents would have been lost or destroyed by now, and the tombstone is all that remains. For the brief moment that I see the stone read their name, they are remembered. Like so many stones from that time period, they are worn and unreadable. It is a travesty that there is not a program to fix fading tombstones.

This location allowed us to travel back in time for a moment. Learn a bit of the area and see those that once lived here. It has changed radically in the past 200 years. I can barely imagine what this place or any place will look like 200 years in the future.

Google Map search: St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church 657 Concession Rd 14 E, Chesley, ON N0G 1L0