Bangor, PA (11/28/2018)

Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Today we started our "mini" grand tour (the grand tour minus Florida) by following I-80 east across the state of Pennsylvania. Took a short detour to Bangor, PA and the Columcille Megalith Park, a Celtic-inspired outdoor sanctuary.

Entrance to Columcille, named for the 6C Irish monk, St Columba

On a visit to Isle of Iona (Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland) where St Columba lived in exile, the owner of this land in PA, William H Cohea, Jr, had a dream of a circle of standing stones closing in on him. Beginning in 1975, he began assembling stones left by the Wisconsin Glacier. The largest standing stones were found in a shale pit.

The largest stone, Mannanan, is 6 m/20' tall (KSS)

A circle of standing stones, a pre-Celtic sacred setting

A bell near St Columba Chapel

St Columba Chapel (1979) was built from
stones found on the property

A stone in a dry pond?

The Glen of the Temple, a hillside of megaliths... (KSS)

...topped by Thor's Gate, with Kent

Tamiko & Kent at Thor's Gate (KSS)

Fire pit (KSS)

Another trilithon

The Pond (with a little bit of ice on the near side!)

The Bridge to the Other World; the Isle of Iona,
according to ancient legends, was where the veils that
separate the worlds (earth and spirit) were very thin

St Oran Bell Tower

According to legend, St Columba tried to build a chapel on the Isle of Iona, but the walls kept collapsing. His companion, Oran, knew of the old ways, and suggested that he be buried in the foundation to appease the ancient energies of the island. This was done, and the walls remained standing. Three days later Columba had Oran dug out, but he was still alive. Columba quickly covered him with earth to save Oran's soul from the world and its sin.

A harp in the Bell Tower (KSS)

Bell Tower interior and bell

Columcille Megalith Park, a Roadside America attraction (KSS)

We spent the night in a hotel in East Stroudsburg, PA.
Next: Brooklyn.