Common Raven keeping watch

Yesterday, when I stopped to look, and see for myself, the burnt remains of the old McDougall Church, this Common Raven flew in and perched on the roof of a small building next to the church. It stayed there till the moment I left, almost as if it was the protector of the church, even though it was now in blackened ruins. Or maybe it was just keeping me company during this sad time.

On 22 May 2017, this beautiful, historic church was burned to the ground by an arsonist. Such a very sad loss! Yesterday, 4 October 2017, I finally made the drive to witness the charred remains for myself. Such a sad sight to see the burnt outer walls, knowing that that was all that was left of this special little church that was almost as old as Canada itself. I loved this little country church, especially the long, photogenic fence line leading up to it from the parking lot. The church was built in Carpenter's Gothic style of architecture. A sign at the opposite end of the pathway had the following words on it:

"The historic church at the end of this pathway was constructed in 1875. At that time, native people were still hunting bison on the prairies. The young nation of Canada was only eight years old; the Canadian Pacific Railway still nine years in the future. And this church would become the heart of a thriving community, Morleyville, and for a time the largest settlement in what would be southern Alberta.

The story of this church is really the story of Rev. George McDougall who moved to western Canada with his family in 1862 to minister to the fur traders and native people. In 1873, the McDougalls established the first mission in the region and built this church. In doing so, they wrote an important chapter of Alberta's settlement history".

After George McDougall's tragic death in a snowstorm, his body was brought back to the church at Morleyville and laid to rest.

www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=8788

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morley,_Alberta

This was my final stopping point towards the end of a day of driving NW of the city yesterday, 4 October 2017. My intention had been to drive some of the back roads a bit further north of where I have been two or three times before, almost as far as Olds, but after finding myself on a couple of muddy, slushy, potholed country roads caused by our recent snow storm, I decided not to risk driving on any others. I ended up stopping and photographing a couple of my absolute favourite barns that I had seen a couple of times before, and was happy to see again.