Church built from scrap marks 75 years

ORLEANS, Mass., March 3 (UPI) -- An Episcopal church in Massachusetts whose original building was cobbled together from scrap lumber is marking its 75th anniversary.

The large building that now houses the Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans on Cape Cod includes some of the wood that came from a wrecked summer hotel. The congregation paid $65 for the remains of the

Chequessett Inn in Wellfleet and hauled the lumber to Orleans on its own.

"It's a true church put together by the people," the rector, the Rev. David Angelica, told The Cape Cod Times. Every rafter and beam oozes that."

The church has had a long association with artists and is full of carvings by one of its founders, Vernon Smith. As part of its anniversary celebration, the church is offering a $1,000 prize for the best work of religious art in any medium.

Richard Kimball, a writer and one of the founders, was ordained at age 63 in 1938 because the church needed a priest. The congregation originally met in his living room or at Camp Mayflower, owned by another

founder.