12 January 2009

Twin peaks

I mentioned that I missed seeing ancient buildings in an earlier post, but I don't want you to think that there is a complete dearth of attractive old buildings here. One of my favourite churches, for example, is the Wesley United Church at Mountain View, which was completed (at that time a Wesleyan Methodist church) in 1878.

It is tucked underneath the 'mountain' (actually a rocky hillside which is, geologically speaking, a gneissic inlier*). You get a glimpse of the church as you drive on Highway 62 from Belleville to Picton. It is unusual for Prince Edward County in that it has two steeples. I snapped it this afternoon as we drove past. The sun was about to be swallowed up by a grey bank of cloud, but it just caught the spires before it vanished.

Here's another picture of the church that I took last July. Just to remind myself that one day those naked trees will be dressed in green again.



*I suspect this might be interesting in itself, but I got lost in geology-speak when I tried to find out more.

POSTSCRIPT: See VP's great explanation of what a gneissic inlier is, in the comments!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Churches are so lovely, architecturally. Those twin spires are beautiful.

VP said...

Gneiss is a metamorphic rock (i.e. formed when superheated and/or under pressure) and usually looks really funky. It's the kind of rock usually found in places like the Alps.

An inlier is a rocky outcrop which is totally surrounded by younger rocks. So for that to happen, the older rock must be more resistant to weathering than the younger rocks. You'd expect that with Gneiss because all that heat and pressure makes it really hard.

Hope that's not too much geology speak!

Amanda said...

Thanks VP - a wonderful explanation which makes all clear!