By MAGGIE M, Editor, thewedge.LIVE

Not much equals a drive along County Road 2. It trims the St.Lawrence River, a corridor from Cornwall to Kingston. It is ostensibly the most traveled scenic road with many picnic stops and major destination locations along the way. Gananoque, Mallory Town, Rockport, Thousands Islands, Brockville, Prescott, Morrisburg, Long Sault and Cornwall are along this path.

There is one hamlet that commands your attention.

Somewhere between Brockville and Prescott, just East of Maitland, there is a blue municipal sign on the road inscribed, “Blue Church.” Lo and behold, a minuscule blue church with a steeple sits on the North edge of the road. I don’t know the population of this hamlet; but, it is likely in the two-digits–not counting the residents in the ground.

History is, the Anglicans of Augusta and Elizabethtown pushed forth to get the church built in 1804. All good intentions to build were in place in 1790. It seems the burial of Barbara Heck, head of Methodism in Upper Canada, was impetus to get the job done. And so the “Blue Church” was born.

As so many stories go, it burned to the ground in 1840. This Blue Church, a sweet vision to my lens, is the 1845 rebuilt version–that’s 172 years old. It is a site for sore eyes. Swing your head 180º and share her view of the grand St. Lawrence River.

Get out of your vehicle, walk the grounds and read the engravings on its beautiful headstones. Transport yourself back into time through its inhabitants’ epitaphs.

What a spot!