There’s a project to build a church on Surette’s Island.
I’t’s not a full “open to the faithful” kind of church but a scale replica model of the original Catholic church based on an old photo from before the church was enlarged and renovated decades ago.
Darryl Crosby, who says he loves to tinker and do crafts, says it all started back in January while surfing the Surette’s Island facebook page.
“And came across all these old photographs of the church down here on the island. Then I came across the old one with the railing at the top of the steeple and the looks of it and I said that’d be interesting to try to duplicate that somehow or make a replica. I always liked a challenge, so, it started from there.”
Crosby says, as a carpenter, the precise detailing is not easy.
“A lot of the stuff that I’ve done, the church is still standing and I have access to it, so I have to go over and I measure everything, then I come back, then I have to draw scaled versions of, like the staircase, draw it all out, make sure it’s going to fit, then figure out how to put it together.”
He says that, while he built models as a kid, he’s never done anything like this scale hand-made wooden replica but is relying on his carpentry background.
“I think that’s helped me a lot to figure how to do this, because, where the staircase is in the church and the upstairs that’s inside of the entryway, all this stuff had to be built separate, put inside, and work my way up before I could close the building in.”
Crosby says the idea first hit him in January, he started the actual work at the beginning of February and figures he’s put over 350 hours into it.
He says, now that he’s back to work, there’s less time for the model but is hoping it will be done in a few months and then go on display.
To follow the progress of his work, got to the “Surette’s Island church project” facebook page.