St. Paul's: The Tour

Directly behind Ground Zero, sits a little chapel built in 1766 called St. Paul's. 



I took this photo standing on the back porch of the chapel and the area with the blue barrier is Ground Zero, the former home of the World Trade Center. The day the planes hit the twin towers, one tree, a sycamore, took enough of the impact for the little chapel that not so much as a window was broken.  That was because, in my opinion, God had much bigger plans for this little church.

The story of St. Paul's interested me so much; it is, for me at least, the untold story of the aftermath of September 11, 2001.  Taken from this article: 

Strategically placed near what was now known as �Ground Zero,� St. Paul�s began functioning as a haven for the emergency crews and anyone else in need during those first terrible days. �People were eating, sleeping, and washing here,� says Fr. Harris, �and all this by candlelight and flashlight at first, until Verizon and Con Ed set up crude lamps for us so that people wouldn�t get hurt walking through the place.�

St. Paul's actually closed their doors to the public and remained open only for the rescue workers.  People did what we as a world should do more often.  They came together, and shared time and talents and a spirit of caring for those who during those dark days, had the toughest of jobs.  Rescue workers came to eat, to sleep, to sit in quiet meditation or to pour out all they were feeling to ears ready to listen.





People came and gave of themselves: massage therapists, cooks, podiatrists, musicians, chaplains.  People sent the things they felt were needed:  food, cots, eye drops, boots.  The relief project at the chapel was open 24 hours a day for nearly nine months and in that time, some 5,000 volunteers served half a million meals.  All meals, many gourmet, from some of the finest restaurants in the city, were all donated.  The entire chapel became a shrine, full of cards, letters, banners, from all over the world.  Candles burned 24 hours a day and messages of love arrived daily in many different languages.  Most of this has been taken down now,but some still remains. 

This was the story I so wanted to know.  The following pictures speak for themselves and if you want to know more about St. Paul's, you can read and view photos here.











(This desktop clock, ejected from the north tower, froze in time at the moment of impact)