While driving from Minot to Grand Forks this morning, Taryn spotted this old run-down church somewhere along Highway 2, outside of Rugby.  We were intrigued, so we pulled over so I could snap a few pictures.

As I walked closer, I saw a sign indicating it to be a former church-school, built in 1915.  Its doors were boarded off, but the gate to the property remained propped open.  I photographed the cracked foundation; the decaying wood; the cross once prominently lit by indoor lights, now faded and barely noticeable.  The cemetery behind housed aged gravestones and – to my surprise – many had fresh flowers set upon them.

I hopped back in the car and headed back to Highway 2 and asked Taryn, “Why are we so fascinated by old buildings?”  This wasn’t the first we had visited and photographed in our travels this week.  She pondered and recalled a friend who explained it in this way: “It’s the imperfections.  There is beauty in the imperfections.”  I agreed, but the explanation seemed incomplete.

I think it’s the romance.  The what-if.  And the what-was.

It’s imagining the community building the church in 1915 – a place to practice their faith and seek community in the midst of their hard work and harsh winters.  Picturing it unfaded and unbroken, teeming with life and news and the sounds of horses roped outside.

It’s hearing the children playing outside after a long day of learning, before beginning their long walks home and evenings of chores.  It’s laughing at the thought that those children became grandparents who talked of the years they walked for hours to and from school.

It’s the question, who is bringing flowers to these old graves? and seeing the old woman placing them delicately while remembering her husband of years and years.

It’s looking to the North, South, East, and West and wondering, who came here?

Maybe we’ve spent too much time in the car, making up stories for abandoned buildings in the middle of nowhere.

But “the middle of nowhere” is no longer nowhere.  It’s beautiful scenery filled with stories and people and rich culture that I have never known but am beginning to deeply appreciate.

-Kendra

North Dakota Project