Divine Stone celebrates its first year of telling the story of the stonework at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. 52 posts, one a week, all of which can be viewed in the “Archives”, tell part of the story of the amazing stonework and the amazing people who created it. We are indebted to all who have helped bring these small stories to life through sharing their information, experiences and photos. We are also grateful for the many repositories of historical information from the Library of Congress to the New York Times’ archives that we have used to develop our content, especially for the older periods of construction.
There has been no particular timeline or sequence for the stories posted and this will continue. We may see Angel Escobar’s graduation just before or after the Cornerstone for the Nave being laid. We post stories as they develop, but in no particular order. They can easily be reordered for a particular flow, for instance, for a book version of the project.
Going Forward
Going forward in our second year, there will be be a few more posts during architects Heins & La Farge’s construction period culminating with the 1911 consecration of the Cathedral. We will review the change in architects to that of Cram & Ferguson. As well, we’ll follow the construction of the Nave and the West Front ending with the outbreak of WWII. There will be a continued focus on the Dean Morton era Stoneyard Institute and posts about the many people who worked on the Southwest Tower. We will discuss the brief effort of Cathedral Stoneworks. The carvings at the Portal of Paradise will be a high point as we near the end of this phase of Divine Stone.
We welcome guest authors, storytellers and any others that can add to the stories. So many people helped make the first year a reality. Please continue to support us. If you maintain a website of your own, consider a link to www.divinestone.org
The frequency of posting will likely slow somewhat to allow for more research and reaching out. Mark is working on an article about the Cathedral and our project for a national magazine.
We hope everyone stays warm and safe.
Roger Murphy & Mark Saxe
One reply on “Divine Stone Celebrates First Year”
Wonderful Web Site! So glad you are doing this! The Cathedral/Diocesan Archives has been closed since late March 2020. I’ve been going in only once or twice a month and there are no visitors allowed in the building at this time. Eventually maybe we can collaborate a bit.