Orthodox Church, UFOs, NATO, and Develis Cave, Mount Penteli, Athens (Greece 2019-03)

Dear Readers,
Happy and prosperous New Year to you all! Thank you for your continued support. This is Part 3 of the summer in Greece series.

Mount Penteli is a triangle-shaped mountain north of Athens. When I was growing up in the 1950s, Penteli was out in the country. Ater a winter storm, Athenians drove to Penteli to play in the snow. Now the urban sprawl of the city goes up to and partly up the flanks. The summit is still crowned by the remains of radar antennas, but I do not know if they are used or manned any more.

The mountain has a long history. In antiquity, miners quarried the clean and pure marble for some of the monumental architecture that you still see around town. Most of the marble in the Parthenon came from Penteli. Scars of ancient and contemporary quarries can be seen from a distance. Followers of Pan (the guy who looked like a goat and played pan pipes) and the nymphs (mythological minor deities (ladies) who lived in the woods and did not wear sufficient clothing) worshipped at the cave.

My nephew told me about a cave to visit. It had been once occupied by an infamous bandit, one Develis (whose real name was Christos Natsios). The cave is also known in paranormal circles for unusual energy, strange lights, and UFOs. Also, some military group, possibly associated with  NATO, did some construction in the cave in the 1977-1983 period. Guards prevented civilians from visiting the site. They dug tunnels to nowhere. In 1983, the workers abandoned the effort and slinked away mysteriously. Well, this was too good to miss, so on a blazing hot August day, we drove up the mountain roads to a gravel road a short distance from the cave. A quick walk took us to the opening. I was surprised to see a Byzantine church under the rock overhang. As of August of 2019, the church was locked and we were unable to see inside. One of the best descriptions of the church interior is from a blog, Churches in Greece (click the link).

The interior of Develis' cave was surprisingly cool and damp, and water dripped from the ceiling. But we did not see lights or UFOs, and neither of us detected energy. Oh well, it was fun.

The black and white photograph is an Acros 100 frame from my Leica M2 camera with 35mm ƒ/2.0 Summicron-M lens.

Demolition of the Crawford Street Methodist Church Annex, Vicksburg, Mississippi

Crawford Street United Methodist Church (former Vicksburg Sanitarium?) Annex from South Street (50mm Summicron lens)

Vicksburg's Crawford Street United Methodist Church* extends over a large portion of the block between Crawford and South Streets in Vicksburg. A 3-story tall annex faced South Street. I think this annex was built in the early 20th century and was part of the Vicksburg Sanitarium (Street's Sanitarium, and later, the Sydney Building**. According to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History Historic Resources Inventory, in 1957 the "old building became Sydney House, a nursing home and apartments for the elderly. Sydney House closed in 1993. The general form and some exterior details of the original house were still visible on the facade of the building. The building burned in 1995 and was subsequently demolished. The Crawford Street UMC bought the property and the two buildings to the south (in the photograph above).

For many years, the lower floor of the annex housed a food bank, while the upper two floors were empty, as far as I know, through the early-2000s. A friend who volunteered at the food bank mentioned something about a kindergarten being in the upper floors at one time.

Sometime in 2018, the back wall of the annex building collapsed. While bicycling by in December, I saw a large backhoe and dumpsters. It was obvious that the old buildings were about to be demolished.

The workers started with the collapsed wall to the rear (the north side). Notice the interesting bridge between the two buildings.

Demolition, February 8, 2019

Once the tractor started working, the building came down quickly. I do not know if any of the old joists and timbers could be reused. I thought only the building to the left would be removed, but soon the second unit came down, as well. Now a field of gravel and bits of broken brick marks the footprint of the two buildings. I do not know if the area will be paved to expand the parking lot.

Former Carnegie Library, 819 South Street, Vicksburg

From the Cooper Postcard Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History

The handsome Spanish Mission Revival building at 819 South Street, across the street from the annex parking lot, now houses the City of Vicksburg Planning Department. Built in 1916, this was the former Carnegie Library***. It is a handsome building that has been well-preserved by the City. Good job!

Notes

* The Crawford Street UMC has a distinguished history. According to the Millsaps College web page:

Organized in 1834, Crawford Street Methodist Church in Vicksburg, holds a unique position in the history of Methodism in Mississippi as well as the history of Vicksburg. On the church grounds is the burial site of Tobias Gibson (1776-1804) , first missionary circuit rider - The Father of Methodism in Mississippi - to the Mississippi Territory for the Methodist Church. Originally buried some few miles away, the monument and grave were moved to Crawford Street in 1935. Newitt Vick , on whose property Vicksburg was built, and his family were hosts to the First Methodist Conference in the Old Southwest in 1812. Openwood church where the Vicks worshipped, was to be the forerunner of the Methodist church in Vicksburg. In 1841 J. W. Vick sold the M.E.C. South the land where the present church stands. The building was dedicated in 1850, But a new structure was to be built in 1899. It burned on Palm Sunday, 1925. After temporary arrangements a new building was constructed in 1955.

Source: Jenkins, William L. Mississippi United Methodist Churches: Two Hundred Years of Heritage and Hope. Franklin, Tennessee: Providence House. 1998. This title is available in the J. B. Can Archives.

**  The Vicksburg Sanitarium, now gone, was built around 1910. From the National Register listing:

The Vicksburg Sanitarium. A four-story, stuccoed, flat-roofed building, facing north, which was built incorporating an 1830s residence. A modillioned metal cornice is between the thud and fourth floors, and a plain cornice is at the roof. There are five bays in the main part of the building: four, two-over-two double-hung sash with stone lintels and sills and a non-historic entry. There is a stuccoe done-story portico supported by square stuccoed columns with a heavy balustrade on its roof. The center bay on the second floor is slightly recessed and is a non-historic door with original sidelights and transom. The recess is flanked by Doric pilasters supporting a denticulated entablature. There are several additions to the building. Ca. 1830s, 1910.

*** The National Register of Historic Places Registration Form notes:

The Old Vicksburg Public Library is architecturally significant in the context of public/governmental architecture in Vicksburg, Mississippi. It exhibits an outstanding design that represents the highlight of development during Vicksburg!s boom period. It is significant as the only public/governmental building in Vicksburg constructed in the Mission Revival style. While many residential buildings in Vicksburg were influenced by this style, the library is the only non-residential Mission Revival and is the largest building constructed in the style. Please refer to the contextual statement for more information about the architecture of Vicksburg.

In 1910 the Vicksburg Library Association decided to contact Andrew Carnegie to ask if he would help the Association build a new library. A library of sorts had been established on the third floor of the new City Hall in 1903, but the Association needed a larger building.

The Carnegie Foundation agreed to build a library building if the community would provide the ground for the building and agree to support the library once .it was established. The Civic League raised $5,000, of which $4,000 was used to purchase the lot and the remainder was used to purchase books and supplies. The planswere designed by Edward L. Tilton, an architect commissioned by the Foundation in New York City. The Library was completed in February 1916 at a cost of $28,000, of which $25,000 was provided by the Carnegie Foundation.

The black and white photographs are from Leica cameras with Fuji Acros or Kodak BW400CN films.

The Mississippi Delta 26: New Hope MB Church, Estill

In October of 2017, the Mississippi Heritage trust announced its 2017 list of 10 Most Endangered Properties. On the list was a handsome wood church in the hamlet of Estill, north of Hollandale. I had never heard of the site before, so my wife and I checked it on our early April Delta trip. The church is on Walcott Road just north of the intersection with Avon-Darlove Road.

From the Heritage Trust:

New Hope Missionary Baptist Church-Estill
Nominated by Kendall Aldridge
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church is a rare example of an early twentieth century rural African American Delta church. Constructed in 1918, the building survived the great flood of 1927 because of its close proximity to Deer Creek, which is higher than the surrounding land.  A wood-framed building with hints of Gothic Revival style in the infilled pointed arches, the abandoned church has several large holes in the roof, allowing rain to poor in.  In addition to the leaking roof, there are cracks between much of the clapboard siding, allowing water to blow in during a storm.

 You can see the pride that the original founders took in their church from the engraved corner stones.

The church was closed, but I could take one interior picture by holding my phone against a glass pane. While walking around, a gent in a truck and a lady in a car stopped and asked if I was going to restore the church. I assume they were aware of the listing on the most endangered list, but I had to disappoint them that I had no connection with any restoration efforts. The lady said she lived on the adjoining farm. She said there were many pictures of river immersion baptisms from decades ago. I checked on the Library of Congress holdings but did not find any such pictures.

These snapshots are from a Motorola Moto G5 mobile phone. I also took some real photographs on Kodak TMax 100 film with a Spotmatic, but these need to be developed and scanned. Please wait for an update.

Update: July 2018. Preservation Mississippi announced that the The Delta National Heritage Area announced its 2018 grant awards. One of these was to support stabilization of the church in Estill:

• Mississippi Heritage Trust, Jackson, MS – $24,500 to support preservation of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church building in Estill, Washington County, MS, by installing a metal roof, securely storing church pews and furnishings, and engaging the congregation and other residents in developing a long-term plan for use of the building

Preserved! Kraków, Poland

Kraków is really a gem. It is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. As written in Wikipedia, "Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life and is one of Poland's most important economic hubs. It was the capital of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1038 to 1569; the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1569 to 1795; the Free City of Kraków from 1815 to 1846; the Grand Duchy of Cracow from 1846 to 1918; and Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1998. It has been the capital of Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999."

For a visitor, one of the best features of Kraków is its authenticity. Most cities in Poland were terribly damaged in World War II, and some, like Warsaw, had to be largely rebuilt after the war. But Kraków was amazingly spared from serious damage. So when you look at the buildings in the rynek (Main Square) you are really seeing medieval buildings, not Old Town 1950. I want to share a few scenes from my 2016 trip. My wife and I were impressed in every way: friendly and hospitable people, great food, excellent prices, immaculate cleanliness, and amazing history.

Most visitors start their trip at the Rynek Główny, the grand Main Square. This is one of Europe's largest medieval market squares and possibly the best preserved and authentic, dating back to the 1300s. The city was destroyed by the Mongols in 1241, and the Main Square was rebuilt in 1257. The elegant hall in the center is the Cloth Hall, with the Town Hall Tower behind. I took this picture from the tower at the Church of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven (more commonly called St. Mary's Basilica). To reach the viewpoint, you need to buy a ticket and climb about 300 steps of the north (taller) tower. A fireman is on duty in the tower and blows a trumpet signal every hour, the Hejnał mariacki. At noon, the signal is broadcast by Polish radio around the world. The Trumpeter of Krakow, a 1929 historical novel by Eric P. Kelly, is based on the trumpeter and events surrounding a 1462 fire. History permeates everything in Poland.

Now let's switch to Tri-X film. This is St. Mary's Basilica taken from the Town Hall Tower. During World War II, the Nazis planned to remake Kraków into a purely German city, which may be one reason it was mostly spared from massive destruction in 1944/1945. As part of their Germanification plan, they renamed the square Adolf Hitler-Platz.

Tourists love Kraków. This was a cheerful Italian group. We saw mostly European visitors along with some Chinese and Japanese groups, but very few Americans.

Summer is the time for musicians and entertainers. We heard that Christmas was also festive despite the cold. (This is a digital photograph.)

Food vendors sell all sorts of locally-sourced foods. You can snack and skip dinner at a sit-down restaurant. We were surprised at the large number of ice cream stores.

The Jagiellonian University (Polish: Uniwersytet Jagielloński) was founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in 1364. In 1939, the Nazis sent 184 professors to concentration camps and closed the university for the rest of the war. Some illustrious alumni include Nicolaus Copernicus (the astronomer) and Saint Karol Wojtyła (John Paul II, Pope of the Catholic Church). As I said earlier, history permeates everyplace in Poland.

Mostowa 6, where the new and old coexist.

Cafes and historic town houses and offices line Mikolajska Street. The state of restoration/preservation was excellent.

Jewish traditions and culture are reviving in Kraków. Jewish residents played an important part in the society from the 1300s, and King Bolesław the Pious granted the Jews freedom to worship, trade, and travel via a royal charter. Most lived in the Kazimierz district of Kraków, which was a thriving economic and cultural hub until the Nazis invaded in 1939. As the war progressed, almost the entire Jewish community was sent to a ghetto and then on to concentration camps. Our tour guide told us that during the post-war Communist era, Jews were not specifically targeted or excluded, but very few returned to Kazimierz and worshiped openly. But in the last decade, Jewish families are returning, synagogues have reopened, and Kazimierz has become a popular site for tourists and scholars interested in the Jewish revival. The photograph shows the entrance to the Tempel Synagogue (Synagoga Tempel) on Miodowa Street, built 1860-1862 in Moorish Revival style.

Galeria LueLue, at Miodowa 22 in Kazimierz, had fascinating historical photographs, including ones taken during the war by German photographers.

Every visitor eventually visits the royal palaces, castle, and cathedral on Wawel Hill. This view is looking north towards the main town, with the towers of St. Mary's Basilica in the distance.

Southeast of town is the Cmentarz Podgorski. This is a Catholic cemetery still in use, but with many mid-century stones. Nearby is an old Jewish cemetery, but we were short on time and it started to rain, so we had to pass.

The square photographs (click to enlarge) were taken on Kodak Tri-X film with a Rolleiflex 3.5E camera with Xenotar lens. I scanned the 6×6 negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi scanner at 2820 dpi and cleaned with Pixelmator software. I resized the frames for this article with ACDSee pro software.

The Mississippi Delta 13: Anguilla

Anguilla is a cluster of houses and some trees on Highway 61 (the Blues Highway) just a couple of miles north of Rolling Fork, Mississippi.  South of town are some farm road that intersect 61, and on one one of these, Southdale Road, stands a classic rural wooden church.

The Southdale Church is unused now but is still in decent condition.  There are dozens of churches like this scattered across the Delta.

Turn around and face north, and you can see why the Delta was so famous for its rich soil. And most of it is a flat, with only a few Indian mounds and some natural river levees to break the horizon.

A few years ago, I photographed this deserted farm workers' house somewhere in Anguilla, but I can't recall the exact location.  Many of these isolated houses are now empty and slowly crumbling and decaying. A legacy of our past is disappearing.

About 4 miles north of Anguilla, you reach the small town of Nitta Yuma. Here is another country church, perched at the edge of the fields. Nitta Yuma was once much more populated, but now has very few residents.

This formerly magnificent mansion in Nitta Yuma belonged to the Crump family. Nellie Crump came from good stock and was a regular guest of the President, staying in Blair House. Nellie's mansion had electricity before the White House did. After Nellie died, two descendants dug up floors and tore out parts of walls, looking for gold that was purported to be hidden somewhere. The house has been crumbling steadily over the decades. This is how we lose our architectural heritage.

2013 photographs taken with a Panasonic G1 camera with 14-45 mm lens, tripod-mounted. The 2008 photographs were from a Olympus E-330 digital camera.

St. Mary's Catholic Church, Vicksburg, Mississippi

St. Mary's Catholic Church is at the corner of Main and 2nd North Streets, in the historic part of Vicksburg east of the Courthouse and south of Old Jackson Road.

As you can see, this building is relatively modern (1923). Did this structure replace an older church? Possibly a reader can provide information.

St. Mary's operates a large parish hall, which resembles an old hangar.

What interested me most about the property was the old rectory, an 1800s wood structure on a flat lot south of the church.  To me, it looks like an old schoolhouse, but the priest told me that the schoolhouse was demolished many years ago, and the white building was the rectory.

It is a handsome old building, and I wish they could restore it.

This is the view from the church property looking east along Jackson Street. Did the lower garden once have an orchard or vegetable garden? In the early 1900s, many schools grew their own food - how times have changed. Can you imagine a contemporary student working in the fields?

Update January 2018: the rectory has been demolished. I do not know the exact date. That is sad.

Photographs taken with a Panasonic G1 digital camera, tripod-mounted.

Jackon Street Missionary Baptist Church, Vicksburg, Mississippi

The Jackson Street Missionary Baptist Church is a handsome, imposing brick church at the corner of Jackson and 2nd North Streets. It is one of many churches in Vicksburg, which I hope to feature in upcoming articles.

Photograph 1994 taken with a Fuji GW690II camera on Velvia film. 

I do not know too much about the history of the Jackson Street MB Church, but the cornerstone shows construction in 1901. This was an active and devoted African American community to support construction of such a handsome building. The 1994 photograph was taken on Fuji Velvia film with a Fuji GW690II rangefinder camera.

Once when I was photographing here, an elderly lady told me with pride that the bricks had been made by slaves. She had the chronology off by a few decades, but the pride in the church was clearly there. The church never had stained glass, but many of the window panes are original and display the rippled pattern you see in old glass.  Jackson Street here is still brick-paved, as were most Vicksburg Streets around 1900. Notice the rough pattern, which I was told was designed to let horses get traction. Most of the glazed bricks are amazingly intact.

At one time, the second-floor door led to a fire escape. The church was not originally designed with handicapped access. The congregation hopes to purchase the high-elevation lot next door and pave it for parking. Then elderly members of the congregation will be able to enter the church via a bridge through this door directly into the 2nd floor.

One of the deacons (is this the right term?) showed me around one Saturday. The balcony was originally equipped with theater seats. He told me the church was originally built with plaster walls directly on the brick bearing walls. It was hard to heat in winter and was drafty, so the congregation installed sheetrock on top of furring strips, which provided a degree of insulation. The church is now centrally heated.

This is the late-1800s cottage at 1412 Jackson Street, right next to the church. It is a handsome, traditional wood cottage but now in poor condition. The City inspector marked it for demolition with the spray-painted number on the front. It may have once been multi-family with the three entry doors. This is the lot that the church hopes to buy and use for parking.

This is the view north across Jackson Street from the porch of the condemned cottage. The house below is no. 1413. St. Mary's Catholic Church is on the hill to the north, at the corner of Main and 2nd North Streets.

This 2-floor unit is at 1415 Jackson Street.

At the top of the hill is 1907. A lady told me that it was over 100 years old. Two houses were located in the empty lot in the foreground, but they were torn down. She said the land is sinking because of a large drain below.

This little store is at 1001 2nd East Street. It once served the local community. Note: this building is cinder block, so probably post-World War II. I wonder if it replaced an older wood store?

This cute cottage is at 918 2nd North.

Most photographs taken with a Panasonic G1 digital camera, all tripod-mounted.  (As I have written before, use a tripod for architecture, set your camera at its lowest ISO setting, and use the optimum aperture for your lens.  Optimum is usually 1 or 2 f-stops closed from maximum aperture.)  For some of these frames, I was testing a new Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 lens.. Map made with ESRI ArcMap GIS software.