west cummington congregational church - west cummington, massachusetts, usa

stephen philbrick, minister of west cummington congregational church, recounts the communities' experience of building a new foundation in the underground depths of the aging church. this recording was made in the crawl space below west cummington church - literally crawling on our bellies over rock and dirt! follow the google map to west cummington church, where you'll find the white cellar doors as pictured below. please be respectful of the church and village residents and leave everything as you found it. you will want to wear old clothes which you won't mind getting dirty. you will DEFINATELY need a flashlight, a head-mounted type is strongly recommended. place your headphones on and try to tuck loose wires under your shirt so you're not getting tangled in them. open up the cellar doors, and when you're ready, press play and descend into the basement in time with the recording. you will be heading to your right, to the back right corner of the church where the story will be told. get your bearings from the basement map below, and be sure to face the direction indicated during the playback to get the full binaural effect. at around 6:40 stephen indicates to the green-lit window at the other end of the church, and the change of direction is reflected in the recording.

- right click and choose "save link as..." to download the soundfile westcummington.mp3 -

- click here for a google map -

please note that the church is at the top of church rd. and not actually on main street!

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