A beautiful, quiet place located between farmland and woods, St. Mary's Episcopal Church was built in 1857 to serve about 20 families who lived on surrounding plantations. Today it's in the middle of nowhere--12 miles down the two-lane state highway 66, the road to the infamous state prison at Angola, which in 1857 was just another plantation. The church is on private land, so I watch for special occasions when it is open to the public.
St. Mary's was deconsecrated in the 1940's; parishioners transferred to Grace Episcopal Church, about 15 miles away in St. Francisville. There is a determined group working to restore the old church: http://stmarysla.com/.
