Sunday, October 18, 2009

Who knew?

We went for a drive this afternoon with Jim and Susie. We had been at the Branched Oak Farm for the Harvest tour where we sampled incredible cheese, breads, apple cider, and generally enjoyed the beautiful day. Next we decided to drive around Branched Oak Lake and when we got to the north side of the lake we continued north looking for a small lake Dave wanted to check out. As we were driving along we saw this off in the distance. It looked like some sort of compound. We got to the driveway on Agnew Road and there was a sign that said Carmel of Mary, Jesus and Joseph. Curious, we drove in to check it out.

It is a Catholic Church with mass held every day. It is a large complex with a wall around the whole thing. We were able to enter the church and the altar is pictured here. It was dismantled from the St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha in 1980. The statue in front is waiting to be installed.

This church is literally out in the middle of nowhere. There were a few cars around when we pulled in, and another car followed us into the parking area, but it seemed deserted, and rather mysterious. I have tried an internet search, but cannot find anything about it. We speculated that it may be a retreat center.

We didn't find the lake.

1 comment:

Susie said...

The pictures turned out great! The snakes slithering around at the entrance and the jogging lady offering up the John 5 bible verse (must have been one of the nuns rather than one of the neighbors) added to the surreality of the unexpected discovery. Can you get that arial photo I forwarded attached to your blog or to FB? Incredible. A long-lasting memory. So glad and grateful to have friends to have adventures like this with!