St. Mary Steeple Gets A Facelift
An Algoma landmark that can be seen for miles by land or by sea got a facelift in June 2019. The steeple that stands tall above St. Mary Catholic Church in Algoma is being cleaned, re-shingled, re-trimmed and repainted, giving it the ‘new’ look.
If you happened to see the work going on, you witnessed special tradespeople dangling high above the ground called steeplejacks. According to Merriam-Webster.com, the definition of a steeplejack is a person whose work is building smokestacks, towers, or steeples or climbing up the outside of them to paint and make repairs.
The term was first coined in 1852, just eight years before St. Mary Church, located at 118 Church St. began serving the Lake Michigan community of Algoma and the surrounding area. Learn more about St. Mary here: https://stmarysalgoma.com.
Photo credit: Bob Kuhn, used with permission.