Pillars & Foundations

North Church, UCC, Portsmouth, New Hampshire I stumbled into a visit to this gorgeous quintessential New England church on one of several visits to Portsmouth in the 2019 summer. The church had open doors, something that is unfortunately rare in the U.S., however because Portsmouth draws a considerable amount of foot traffic, perhaps it was feasible.  History:  This parish has a long history in the region and their website takes tome time to give a high level review. With a timeline stretching back to 1641, the current building was constructed in 1855. Of particular interest, George Washington was said to have worshiped with the Parish during visits to Portsmouth. An architectural firm of Towle and Foster , based out of Boston designed the building. John D. Towle specialized in churches but also designed a couple of notable homes, most of which are scattered across the New England region. Contributions of North Church:  When visiting churches I often like to

Qubbat al-Sakhrah, Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem I was lucky to visit Dome of the Rock on a recent trip to Jerusalem. There are set times that tourists may visit the site each day, and you need to proceed through a security checkpoint run by the Jordan government. Non Muslims may not enter the actually buildings themselves, however the grounds are certainly a site to behold. Of note the dome is a Muslim "shrine," not a mosque. My photographs can't come close to capturing the vibrancy of the colors, or the occasional wafts of smell of incense and food coming from the surrounding dense old city. The grounds are large, an in spite of the substantial queue of people and demand to enter, it still has a feeling of serenity relative to the bustling surroundings outside of the walls. The Dome of the Rock was first built in 691-692 of the Common Era (CE) and was rebuilt following a collapse in 1022-1023. Further information on the site, buildings, and t