GRAMMERCY, La. — It’s a 5-mile journey on Blind River that takes us to a truly unique place of worship in St. James parish.
If you travel there, you have to keep your eyes peeled for this sacred place that’s built from cypress and created in reverence to a command from the most high.
“You can take a boat or you can swim. There are 2 ways. I wouldn’t recommend swimming,” laughs Lance Weber, who is the caretaker of the church known as “Our Lady of Blind River.”
It’s a one room chapel that was constructed over 30 years ago and sits tucked away among the trees on the river’s edge.
“My grandma had a vision of Jesus kneeling by a rock, and Jesus told her to build a place to pray. My grandpa and a lot of the community back here on the river started Easter Sunday of ’83 building the chapel,” says Weber.
Weber says many special services have been held inside of these walls throughout the years like Catholic mass, anniversaries, and even weddings.
“A lot of visitors used to come back here, so a lot of people used to leave little trinkets like little statues or a picture or rosaries. So, my grandmother used to like coming in here and seeing something different. It was almost an Easter egg hunt,” says Weber.
Visitors from around the world have visited this little chapel on the river, and they’ve logged their names in a book that sits beside the entrance.
“We’ve had people who’ve left ashes of loved ones in here. A lot of people would leave petitions,” Weber says.
Weber is now the caretaker of the chapel and faces structural challenges.
He’s working to bring the church to its former glory, that way whoever comes to visit can receive a type spiritual blessing like in year’s past.
“I would like for each person that comes here to experience I guess a peace…something they might be struggling with, something in their life that they might be having
difficulties with. I hope they can find their answer and leave peaceful,” says Weber.
Weber says he hopes to keep his grandparent’s legacy alive by revitalizing the chapel with the help of the community.
His goal is to bring more weddings back to Our Lady of Blind River.