When history becomes ashes

From Easton-

The crispy, hard, black ashes crunched against the blade of his shovel as Chuck Hughes dug deep into the remains of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Spring Hill near Hebron. He came to investigate, on behalf of an insurance company, the cause of the fire that, in less than two hours, turned the wooden building into smoke and charcoal.

In 120 minutes, a church built in 1773 was gone.

"Just think," Chuck said to me, "this church was here before there was our United States."

When I met Chuck at the site, I noticed it was less than 24 hours since Old Spring Hill, as it was also called, was standing. In just 24 hours a beautiful church was gone. The morning before, fire trucks, emergency personnel, bystanders and backed up traffic on a closed portion of the highway. Oddly, it was just Chuck and I standing in the ashes, alone, talking.

More here-

http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/maryland/2014/07/25/brice-stump-hebron/13155219/