The bell tower

Many people who have walked around the Dupont Circle have gone by a traditional gothic-looking church flying a big rainbow banner down the front of their facility. A lot of people have never been in the building, but they kind of think of it as the "gay church" in Dupont. Well, it isn't a "gay church." It's the Church of the Pilgrims, one of the "More Light" Presbyterian churches that, while still in the Presbyterian mainstream, is open and welcoming to all in the GLBT community.

Yesterday happened to be the day of their annual fall festival and art market. After our brunch and agricultural experiences, Robert and I Metroed over to Dupont for a look-see at the art, and most especially we were going so we could make the rare climb (they only do this once a year) to go up in their bell tower for spectacular views of Rock Creek Park and the fall foliage.

The tower was an adventure in and of itself.

Viewers first had to make their way inside the church and then up to their rear balcony and choir loft. Once there, while we waited to go up, we got to look around a bit. It's a pretty church on the inside with traditional gothic-themed architecture and some particularly beautiful stained glass windows. The organ console and many of the organ pipes were in the balcony, but they had the console closed up, so I couldn't examine the organ specifications.

Once the traffic cleared and we were allowed up, we began to climb this tight, small, cast iron, spiral staircase in an opening passage just wide enough to accommodate the staircase. The stairs were so narrow, I had to climb up sideways, and it seemed like a joint project for both feet and hands. Finally, we got to the top of the stairs and walked out onto the floor in the small tower.....only to find out that we had to climb up two more staircases! So, up we went again, up another narrow spiral staircase. On the next landing, I could see that Robert, who is both acrophobic and claustrophobic, was less than excited about this process, but we could see the light at the top of the tower shining down from the top of the final staircase, and we pressed onward. At last we made it up! The top of the tower was an open-air room with a double-height ceiling that allowed for tall, pointed arch window openings. And the view was lovely.



Here's Robert, all the way on top of the bell tower!