Hidden Bricks: In the footsteps of Mother Joseph, Astoria Synchronicities, and "Terrible Tilly" Lighthouse

While researching Mother Joseph and the sisters of Providence, I discovered that there are several Providence Medical facilities that have a 1/4 size copy of the statue of MJ that is in the national gallery. We went to Providence Hospital in Portland to find the closest one to us. 

Her tools at her feet. 

While I came to track down Mother Joseph, Providence also highly honors her predecessor, Beloved Emilie Gamelin, the foundress of the Sisters of Providence. She's another remarkable woman I never would have encountered without looking into Hidden bricks. In 1960, the Catholic church began what they called the "investigation process" to work towards her beatification and canonization (Sainthood). She's also a really big deal.

From Wikipedia:

 "In 1983, an inquiry into Gamelin's canonization cause was begun by a diocesan tribunal. The evidence heard by the tribunal was compiled into a document called a positio, which was sent to Rome and presented to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. The positio was examined by a committee of expert theologians and, upon their recommendation, Pope John Paul II declared Gamelin to be Venerable (the second of the four stages of sainthood) on 23 December 1993.[8]

Also in 1983, a 13-year-old boy named Yannick Fréchette was observed to make a surprising recovery from leukemia following prayer directed to Mother Émilie Gamelin. 

The medical file relating to this case was submitted to doctors in Rome, and in 1999 those doctors unanimously declared Fréchette's recovery to be a miracle, attributable to the intercession of Gamelin. The healing was formally acknowledged as an authentic miracle by Pope John Paul II on 18 December 2000. The declaration of a miracle enabled Gamelin to meet the requirements for beatification, the third of the four stages of sainthood, and on 7 October 2001 Pope John Paul II beatified her. As a result of her beatification, Gamelin received the title "Blessed", and public veneration to her was authorized by the Roman Catholic Church in areas associated with her.[8]"

Inside the Chapel at Providence Portland Medical Center

To say that Gamelin lived a life of tragedy is frankly putting it lightly. Born in 1800 as the youngest of 15 children, her mother died when she was four. It is said at age three she gave up her own food for a beggar, as she was moved by his suffering. She also lost her father, sister, and sister in law by the age of 18. She thought about entering religious life early on, but at age 23 married instead.

She had three children with her husband, all three died, along with her husband by 1828. Her grief was so consuming, all she could think to do was to help others, and she opened a guest house on her property, moving in a 102 year old in need of help. Her friends and family ridiculed her. Soon two more houses and the care of 30 residents were her responsibility. Much like her protege Mother Joseph, she felt God's Providence work throughout her life:

From the Providence Archive here:

"One day she prayed at Montreal's Notre Dame church because she did not have the money to buy food. After prayers, she continued on her way to the market where she planned to beg at the stalls. An old man approached her and handed her 23 louis ($100) saying it was for the poor. Émilie Gamelin's life is filled with similar incidents in which she trusted completely in Divine Providence and was able to continue her work."

She worked with people ill with cholera and was known for changing the views of the rich towards the homeless and ill to one of compassion instead of scorn. She also had a soft spot for the disabled, as the Providence Archive continues:

"Émilie Gamelin's strong interest in the care of people with mental illness can be traced to a request made by her husband around the time of his death. John Baptiste had begged her to continue caring for Dodais, a boy with mental retardation whom he had befriended. Dodais had rescued him after an attack in which John Baptiste had been left unconscious by the side of a road. The cries of Dodais summoned help. Émilie Gamelin fulfilled her husband's wish and cared for Dodais until he died at age 30. Dodais was described as "unable to do the smallest thing for himself, and capable of uttering only confusing and unintelligible sounds." Émilie Gamelin revealed to her spiritual director that Dodais at his death was granted the use of speech long enough to thank her for her tender care. Her interest in people with mental afflictions resulted in the establishment of many institutions of care throughout Quebec.

Bishop Ignace Bourget of Montreal made plans to ask some women religious from Paris to become involved in and carry on the work founded by Émilie Gamelin. Eventually, the sisters under consideration sent word that they could not come to Canada. The Bishop made a prayerful decision to found a diocesan order of women religious to carry on Émilie Gamelin's work. Although she was not among the original group of seven sisters, Émilie Gamelin soon became a novice and on March 30, 1844, she became Mother Gamelin, the first Superior General of the young community."

And thus the Sisters of Providence were born. Mother Joseph (under her father's escort) arrived there in Montreal on December 26, 1843.

Small statue of Gamelin outside the chapel

Outside the chapel

Also outside the chapel is a nice tribute to Mother Joseph:

Wandering the halls we found St. Joseph. 

Outside the Cancer center here in the turn around, is a replica of the famous statue of Gamelin that stands in Montreal (where the Sisters of Providence were founded) outside of the Rue Sainte-Catherine exit of the Berri-UQAM Metro Station. It shows her handing out bread to orphans.

Mother Joseph herself felt it was Providence that brought her to Gamelin to continue her work - quotes from the Providence Archive:

One of the things that continues to make Mother Joseph so relatable to me is that she had a pretty intense case of Imposter Syndrome, and worried about her projects. She made the choice to turn it over to God. Some more of Mjs greatest hits from The Providence Archive:

On Valentine's day we decided to go to the Oregon Coast and Astoria for an adventure. It ended up being a day filled with Brick Mojo. I wanted to check out a known haunt, (The "Other" Flavel house in town). There was a church across the street that had a book sale. And where there's a book sale, I'm going in.

Old church was a bonus

One of the places I've not taken a deep dive to quite yet but planned to is the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. I specifically have been wanting to find an older book on the Light that had some actual first hand accounts of what the "haunting" inside is like. On the first table I walked to I found this for a buck:

Oh, it gets better. It's signed and was written by one of the Lighthouse Keepers! I felt like I won the lottery. In addition, this particular version (1979) is noted by author James A. Gibbs that the earlier versions of the books used alias names for the other keepers for their privacy as they were still living. This version is the real deal with the keepers' real names used. 

There's a great recent drone video here, where you can see the Hidden Bricks used on the smaller building lower down the rock and around on the grounds, and see what it's looking out there these days. Drone Video by Geist View. 

I bought this book and a couple more without looking at it, and when I got home that night and read it I realized I hit actual ghost story paydirt. The first night on the rock the author reads old logs about other light houses and realizes there's a patterns of hauntings. After an initial false alarm that involves a goose busting into his quarters, a 10 X 10 foot room, he realizes that Tillamook Light is also haunted:

This is just the entry about his first night arriving on the rock. The author describes how bringing outside life to the rock always ended in failure. Plants wither and die, a dog was brought out to improve morale and mysteriously "disappeared" after being depressed and listless. A cat was brought out for company, but with no rats or rodents to chase it just "up and died one day" (p. 68).

So why is this place so crazy haunted? Well, let's start with the location itself before we even add in Hidden Bricks. Basically the Tillamook Lighthouse was a giant lemon of a building project from the start. 

According to author Mike Helm in his 1983 book, “Oregon’s GHOSTS & Monsters,” Tillamook Rock’s reputation was known to Native Americans. He stated, “They believed it was cursed by their gods, haunted by evil spirits, and they were never known to have approached it.” There are also stories that Native Americans believed the rock was filled with tunnels inhabited by spirits. 

1.2 miles off shore, Tillamook Rock Lighthouse is built on under an acre of basalt in the Pacific. Commissioned by US Congress 1878, construction began in 1880 and was plagued with problems, taking 575 days to finish. Standing 134 feet tall, the author describes it on page 5 of "Tillamook Light" as "a pint-sized Alcatraz".  It was decommissioned in 1957 and is currently privately owned. The stone blocks on the outside are more than two feet thick, but the elements on the Pacific are too powerful and the lighthouse was a doomed venture from the beginning. Most of the building is made from stone from the Clackamas, Oregon area, but the Hidden Family history in the Historical Museum confirmed that at least a large portion of these red brick used were Hidden Bricks. 

During the building, a mason working on the lighthouse who had worked on lighthouses in England, John R. Trewaves, was brought in to do a construction survey. On September 18, 1879 he was swept out to sea and drowned doing his work. 

Three weeks before the project's finish (the light was lit January 21, 1881) tragedy struck on January 3. British ship Lupatia (incoming from Japan) was wrecked during a storm and sank, killing all 16 crew members. There was a dog onboard that survived and was adopted by a family in Astoria. Gibbs' book describes the wreck:

"A few of the construction workers who had refused to believe a ship was actually out in the storm, repined in the aftermath of the incident. One, learning of the death of the entire ship's company, was quoted as saying 'If we had only believed our ears. If we had just shouted, made some kind of loud noise...We might have warned them off. It was tough looking at the remains of that ship day after day and realizing that we perhaps could have saved it.'" (p 56.) 

I had my own minor run in with this lighthouse. About 15 years ago I went on a kick where I wanted to travel to all of the Coastal lighthouses around here and visit and photograph them. I took my 1960's Yashica SLR that I inherited from my father and all the lenses with me so I could get some shots of Terrible Tilly. 

This is the second to last shot I took with that camera, from Ecola State park. 

This is the final shot I took with that camera, of Tillamook Light. Upon taking this photo the shutter on my camera stuck shut and the camera will not operate correctly since. I've taken it to two different camera shops and neither of them could seem to figure out what the problem was and I just have had it sitting in my closet since. 

Did a cursed lighthouse break my camera? I don't know, man. I really don't.

Going back to that church book sale for one more fun synchronicity. I picked up another $1 book off of the same table, that looked interesting. Again, didn't do a flip through until later. It was a little rough shape, but also signed... and look who is inside (which is what I was hoping for):

MJ's Brick Mojo Strikes again!

I hadn't even gotten home yet to realize the treasures I had hidden in the books, but I already was having serious "brick mojo" on the rest of the trip. I found a piece of jewelry I was specifically wanting for a great price, and then we headed to Fort Stevens State Park, also a highly haunted and liminal space. 

Instantly upon entering the park I was stunned to see a small herd of elk calmly eating in the middle of the state park. I calmly talked to them and got about five feet away and stopped. They didn't care I was there. 

Of course I had to look up the meaning of when one encounters elk, which was very meaningful for me personally and I just went through a major job transition. 

It was Valentine's Day, so my husband brought me through the woods there by Coffenbury lake, because that's "where he took cute girls to kiss" when he was there as a kid in the summer. 

I got a few snogs and the enjoyed a walk in the area that felt super liminal and magickal that morning. I picked up a bunch of moss, pinecones, etc for my "witch stuff." 

Altar prizes

Magick in the forest

After our walk around the lake, we went out to the Peter Iredale shipwreck on the beach, which was also mentioned in my new book about Tillamook Light. Despite the light, the shipwrecks in the area continued over time. Gibbs' book highlights a few of them, including the Peter Iredale.

Shipwrecks that weren't prevented by Tillamook Light. 

Wreck of the Peter Iredale

And of course, I have no idea where it came from, but out on that beach I swear to you I found a part of a red brick.

Brick Experiments... The Providence Academy Didn't Disappoint.

On Friday January 31st I received a much anticipated prize from across the Sea... A piece of the Boleskine house.

There is a theory that Boleskine house is the location where the Loch Ness monster, Nessie, was conjured and that Aleister Crowley is responsible for this cryptid. Jimmy Page also worked magick amongst the walls here. Recently it was purchased and has had a couple of fires. There is a nonprofit foundation that is trying to restore it by selling the charred remains that cannot be used in the rebuild. A great overview of the project is here.

Of course I had to have a piece of the sandstone. Stones are sort of my thing, and a stone from the house of where the "Wickedest Man In the World" did black magick? If bricks and man made building materials can be reactive or "haunted," a piece of the Boleskine house should be nice and juicy. 
  
My friend A.P. Strange was compelled to buy the charred wooden remains, and before our prizes arrived we discussed sharing our loot among ourselves so we each got a bit of everything. I hoped that the heat from the fires had weakened the stone that I could break it, and that the stone would be big enough to halve.

When I got my nicely sized stone, I saw it had weak spots, and clearly my intuition that I should share was right on the money.

The original prize.

I spent a few minutes talking to the rock, before I prepared to break it and felt solid in my decision to do so. Not only can I experiment with this stone, some of my weirdo family can as well. That's basically the Liminal Earth mission, cataloging and sharing the strange, and why I became an Ambassador in the first place. 

I tapped it gently to the pavement in the box and nothing happened. I sat with it another moment, briefly pondered a hammer and decided against it. Suddenly, clearly the words "drop it" came into my head. My husband, seeing me standing with a rock in my hand like a lunatic, opened the patio door and also said out loud, "Just drop it. It will break."

Message received, I gently dropped the brick on concrete once and it showed me it wanted to be shared with more than just A.P.

Coming soon to a weirdo mailbox near you!  The Boleskine stone has spoken.

Let's get weird fam. Those of you that receive pieces, I do hope you'll share with me anything interesting that happens, and maybe even blog about it.  My kid was relieved my prize from Scotland showed up on a Friday night instead of a school night - ha ha!

I even saved the sand dust from the box.. tiny jars!?!

I decided to keep the largest piece for myself and I plopped it right on my Brick Altar. Also? I decided to take a piece with me, in my pocket, inside Mother Joseph's "cursed" Providence Academy tour. Can't think of a better "trigger object" that will get a ghost nun's attention better than bringing a piece of the home of the Wickedest Man In the World into her cursed building she obsessed over. 

Dividing it up to mail to my friends, my cat who is obsessed with crystals would not leave it alone. She kept trying to stick her face in the jar and I had to run her off. These are very fragile and crumble from even gentle handling.

Is the stone "juicy", or just smell interesting? 

The first Saturday of the month the Providence Academy provides a free tour. Today was our day. We made sure to give a donation at the end, because our Docent Carolyn knew what was up and was willing to talk about anything. The normal tour is only $5 which is an absolute STEAL. The best part? Our docent was a student there, from the final graduating class of 1966. Her grandma was an orphan and lived here. And as she got to know us she spilled lots of personal stories. She realized quickly I knew my bricks and she loved to talk about them. I've got a book list started now, thanks to her. 

This corner is where the El Presidente Restaurant used to be.

The original cornerstone from the St. Joseph Hospital sits outside the grounds. 

Also outside, the site of the original well, where the water for the academy came from. 

The Foundation of the building is several feet thick, making this one of the strongest laid foundations in the area.  It is similar in foundation to the Hidden House, but more extensive. We learned on our tour that even the site of where Mother Joseph purchased her land seemed somehow guided by unknown Providence.

The original area where the first land claim and St. James Church stood was built too close to the river. There were no dams to control it whatsoever and so the area flooded significantly and with frequency, so Mother Joseph looked for land up above the flood plain. The land parcel she chose for the Providence Academy is special - it's the only naturally occurring large slab of solid basalt in the Vancouver area. This area will survive a massive, massive earthquake. Of all the land parcels to buy, she chose this one. There is no other parcel of land with the same basalt feature in the area. Mother Joseph had no idea when she purchased this land just how special it was, they had no way of knowing at the time. 

Office buildings in the basement, or "first floor". 

Our docent Carolyn told us about how back when the building was originally built the upstairs attic floor was the only habitable place, as the heat rose up from the smart construction of the building. There were no windows downstairs, and that's when Mother Joseph started her begging tour and "Adopt a Window or Door in the Academy" program. 

Bell Tower in the Center. You can ring it on the tour, if you want.

The Old Laundry. Condemned.

The old laundry building and powerhouse are currently condemned and too dangerous to go inside. They will soon be demolished, but the bricks will be saved and repurposed on the grounds here. There will be a large garden on the grounds, much like when the Academy was operating, and the plan is to use the bricks in the works to match the pathways around the rest of the grounds. They may also be re-purposed in that apartment building coming in a few years.

A peek inside the condemned power station The roof is caved in.

The Iconic power station chimney may be able to saved in the renovations, but its not guaranteed.

Fancy detailed herringbone brick patterns on the powerhouse, with rounded arches echoing the main Academy Building.

Additionally, we learned technically the parking lot is currently condemned and that the City has given special permit for them to remain. The reason for this is the area is so old there is no drainage system, and so the it literally turns into a flooded lake when its rainy enough. The basement can have problems and flood frequently as designed. They plan to manage this with part of the new renovations happening. 

Hidden Bricks line all the paths here.

The front doors from Evergreen Blvd, underneath the avant-corps. The statue nook under the cupola used to hold St. Joseph. 

The tour begins with a walk in the front door, where there's a few pieces of art and a neat history timeline about the Sisters of Providence and their work in the area. It's a good half hour history lesson and was a great refresher of my research.

The carriage loop is in the shape of a heart, honoring the branches of care the sisters spread in communities in the Northwest.

There's also a lovely original oil painting of Mother Joseph in the Lobby done by artist Vivian Smith. She painted this portrait of Mother Joseph while working inside her art studio in the Providence Academy in 1974.

Immediately inside, you find yourself on original floating floors, hand cut and laid together. They have a very distinctive squeak. They are not built on ball bearings like the Crystal Ballroom (I asked) but under a different sort of technology I unfortunately didn't catch the specifics of. They feel very similar to the floors in the Crystal Ballroom, however, walking on them.

Bouncy!

To the right, you see a large spiral staircase. It's currently being restored to its original status, which is wonderful, as it goes up clear to the Bell Tower. Immediately you notice the stairs are different in construction inside. The handrails are at a height comfortable for children. The steps are shallower and easy for kids to easily take. Mother Joseph really did build this to serve the orphans. The steps actually angle backwards as you walk, making it feel off for people with large feet.

I asked our docent if she ever got in trouble for sliding down the wide wood grip, as I immediately wanted to do so myself. She smiled and told me, "No, I never got caught."

This staircase goes clear up to the tower that holds the original bell.

We headed upstairs to the second floor and the chapel entrance. This is a photo from the third floor entrance, but they are similar and here you can see the rope that is attached to the chapel's bell, which can be rung from the attic, 3rd floor, or for weddings in the chapel if needed. 

Ding dong church is on!

This bell was also rung to announce Mother Joseph's death:

The chapel is breathtaking. I can't imagine how wonderful it would have been with all of the relics still inside. Most have gone to two local parishes in the area. There used to be a copy of a Pieta depicting Mary and Christ as well as a painting of Jesus' Sacred Heart as the centerpiece. The chapel was restored to be as non-denominational as possible to serve the community while honoring the Sisters' legacy.

The darker pews in the front two rows were carved by Mother Joseph

Side Altar

The side altars caught my attention for a couple of reasons. The art has been moved to other churches in the Diocese. Later when we were in the attic I noticed an area outside where the windows looked odd. These windows obviously accommodate the internal side altars.

Funky window alert

I knew that being the perfectionist Mother Joseph was, she wouldn't be digging how these windows looked from the outside, and guessed they were a later addition. I was right.

This door leads to Mother Joseph's room. 

Inside the church among the original woodwork for the stations of the cross, there is a door to the left as you walk inside, about half way in that Carolyn advised was Mother Joseph's room and where she died. When cancer sadly made her blind she used to open a small window opening in the wall (now it is the Bride's Dressing Room) so she could still hear her orphans sing and still participate in church services. As she lay dying she rewarded the kids with treats as they recited the rosary or sung hymns to distract her from her suffering. Her friend Bishop Blanchet also came here to say goodbye to her in this room a few days before she passed in 1902.

Mother Joseph herself (along with the help of another sister as an apprentice) carved this altar of wood. It is interesting for a few reasons. The detail is unbelievable. The tour is amazing, you are allowed to gently TOUCH these things. 

The Blazing Sacred Heart of Jesus, with gold highlights

There are a total of 5 altars in the chapel Mother Joseph carved.

I cannot imagine how long this would have taken her. This has been recently restored, but it's not restored quite how you would imagine. As mentioned before, the 1960's weren't kind to historic buildings and to make things look sparkly and new they slapped white paint over them. This happened to the altar here also. It and many of the doors in the building were painstakingly painted by an artist to look like wood grain again. The chapel was essentially gutted, the contents sold, and has since been carefully restored. 

The wood is from Belgium and MJ sourced the metal from New Orleans.

When Robert Hidden bought the Academy to save it from destruction in 1969 he put out a public plea to members of the community that bought items from the Sisters of Providence immediately before the facility's closure to please return them. There are many items that are simply lost forever, but Robert and his wife drove up to the Seattle Diocese to retrieve pieces of the altar, with the understanding that they needed to stay with the building and were on "loan" from the Sisters. This is all prior to Robert selling to the Historic Trust, who now manages the restoration project. 

Back to the tour.

As I was sitting outside Mother Joseph's room, in a church pew carved by her own hands, I took a few moments to pull some oracle cards. Again, I was given Tan, The Kind, but this time paired with Timehunter. I like these cards a lot because they don't send people screaming in fear like some regular tarot decks do. 

"The Pew"

Is the same person I sensed in the Hidden House checking up on me here too?

Sitting there, quietly zoning out on the tour a bit (sorry Carolyn), we were all sitting in the pews quietly listening. The only other noise was the shutter from a large SLR camera another person was using to photograph the altar from another pew. 

Dave and I locked eyes as I pulled cards (I felt like I was breaking the rules and enjoyed the mini rebellion, having been scolded for acting out in church as a kid) and there instantly were several loud, distinctive squeaky footprints from the church balcony above. I didn't count the first set, but I believe there were about five. 

The balconies from the pew where I sat.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, even Carolyn. I then in my head thought, "Ehh, there's offices on the second floor, it's probably someone walking up there." I looked around behind me and realized everyone had taken a seat behind me, no one was on the move.

As soon as the thought hit, again there were three distinct "Squeak, Squeak, Squeak" steps from above. I know what steps on that floor sound like, as I had been taking them myself for about 40 minutes that morning. I took the photograph above. It was definitely coming from the balcony. 

The tour guide may have not known I was doing witchy stuff in church, but someone definitely noticed I was. Probably knew I had a piece of the Boleskine House on me too.

Even the stained glass windows had to be restored as they were stripped in the 1960s.

As we left this part of the chapel, I asked if there was balcony access upstairs. Carolyn advised yes, we were headed up to the next floor and can get inside. Oh, of course, someone's up there, I brushed it off. 

She smiled at me and showed me the key. It was locked. No one was up there. We'd already lightly danced around the haunting here. Earlier she said she hadn't had an experience but it wasn't uncommon. She also said she never heard of a curse over an agreement between Mother Joseph and the Hidden family but she told a fun story how MJ fought a local bank who wanted to pay her in paper money. She refused, and demanded only coins. Eventually they caved. So I am calling "the Curse of the Bricks" FALSE.

I pulled cards on the front left pew.

No one here but some more pews.

View from the balcony

The balcony used to have people from the infirmary or orphanage out here so they could attend church as well. There are more pews Mother Joseph carved up here also. One of the original doors is still missing.

The entire building is in the design of a giant cross, and the effects there can be unsettling, much like the hallways in the Bally Hotel in Las Vegas. It gets a very funhouse-like atmosphere. It feels like there are mirrors everywhere but there are none. The fourth floor attic is in the early stages of renovation, and is in a current state of gorgeous decay. This is an active renovation in progress, and that's probably why the past is still making itself known here. 

The bell tower was unfortunately closed due to active renovation. Pretty bummed about that as I've seen an awesome photo of graffiti in there that reads "MOTHER JOSEPH WAS HERE BEFORE ALL OF YOU!"  (They're right!) There was other graffiti from years past to entertain, however. When the school was closed and thought to be facing demolition the students were invited to come upstairs and write their names on the walls. That plus years of vandalism have taken a toll on some of the old peeling walls.

A view of the octagonal bell tower from the Third Floor.

How many faces looked out this window...?

Long, long hallways feel confusing.

There was no indoor plumbing or water access until a remodel in the 1920s, it was all chamberpots. You'd have to walk these long, cold hallways at night and haul your pots outside. Not so plush accommodations for the early residents. Mother Joseph designed the building so that the heat would rise, and everyone lived on this top floor in the early days. The winters were brutal, and they had one particular winter where food was insecure and they almost didn't make it. 

The angles due to the cupola are unsettling. Pink paint from the 1940s remains.

In researching the building I learned that these little rooms with angled doors were the original "rooms" up here, the only original room partitions, when the original sisters moved in back in 1873. The rest was basically an open floor plan. Brr!

Welcome to the funhouse. You can't get lost but you feel lost.

Bunks used to line this room on both sides, with orphaned girls.

Original Confession booths from the Chapel are up in the attic.

An interesting thing happened to Dave while we were up here in the attic. It wasn't warm, in fact, it was a chilly February morning, and yet suddenly he began to feel hot and sweaty. He said "It feels like I'm swelling up," as he played with his wedding ring that was suddenly uncomfortably tight on his left hand. "It's super weird in here," he said. He wasn't uncomfortable enough that he wanted to bail out, but he was having some feelings up there. 

Immediately after taking the long hallway down and back down to the second floor the swelling stopped and he could easily remove his wedding ring.

I kept coming back here. I want to spend hours here specifically.

The original wood lockers from the sister's living quarters are still here. Many of them are cedar as it was thought to keep the moths away. This is the original space where they lived in the 1870s. Some of the old desks from the classroom are still waiting for students to come and sit back down in them. 

In the attic, you can look and see exactly where the original Academy building ended and the later addition began as the needs grew.

We took a tour of the Blanchet Ballroom (named after the good Bishop mentioned above) that can be rented out for events. In a similar turn of events like the chapel, there are some marble columns in there that aren't really marble anymore, but are painted to appear so. Outside the ballroom, they have a neat history display with a Hidden Brick, some found items from the excavation and a great photo of Mother Joseph where she's almost smiling!

Unearthed in excavation

Smiling MJ!

The tour ended with a little loop outside, and I talked to Carolyn about my personal interest in the building some more. She pointed me towards a few new sources to geek out over. I can honestly say I believe the Providence Academy to be authentically haunted. 

Corbelled brick hoods over the windows, a Georgian architectural technique.

The heart shaped carriage turn around.

Looking over where the Kindergarten used to be. It's now a daycare. 

After our tour we went down to Brickhouse, the old Hidden Brick Office. They've covered up a lot of the bricks inside since I was in there and I wasn't very happy about it. Lunch was decent. Nothing interesting here today... except some of the little details outside the bar on the way in. 

They covered most of them. Sigh.

Wallpaper. Boring. 

Are we done with Hidden Bricks? I highly doubt it, but this is basically where the end of Mother's Joseph path leads. I haven't heard back from the Hidden Family about my request for more information on the old equipment. I also plan on going back to the Academy, and it may even have an important part in a future plan of mine if everything lines out as I'm hoping it will in a few months. Maybe my Brick Mojo might just help me more than I realize.