We recently had the privilege to capture the gorgeous Julie Rodgers & Amanda Hite as they committed their lives to each other in a wedding ceremony at the National Cathedral. Living in the D.C. area, you often hear the Cathedral referenced on the news but I never had the opportunity to visit and in looking at the beautiful footage I was compelled to look into the National Cathedral and learned some interesting things. I won’t bore you with a long history lesson but here are some of the more interesting items I learned.
Ever been to L’Enfant plaza on the Metro? It’s named after Pierre Charles L’Enfant who designed Washington, D.C. in the 1790s. As far back as his time, a plan was in place for a “great church for national purposes.” It would be another 100 years until the plan would move in earnest and in 1893, congress granted a charter to establish the Cathedral. Construction began with a 20,000-person ceremony hosted by Teddy Roosevelt and completed in 1990 when the “final finial” was placed in the presence of George H.W. Bush.
It’s the 2nd largest church structure in America and the 4th largest structure in D.C. The church itself is Episcopal in in its origin but advertises itself as a church for all people. Looking at their Outreach & Advocacy section, they practice what they preach! Most recently the church hosted memorial services for John McCain as it has done for many other politicians, Presidents, First ladies, and so forth. Both Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson are buried at the Cathedral in fact. The Cathedral was also host to Martin Luther King Jr’s final Sunday service.
The church receives NO FEDERAL FUNDING and instead is privately funded. In 2011, the earthquake (remember that?) actually caused a great deal of damage to the church and in general over the past several years the church has fallen into some financial hardship. Should you feel compelled to donate or simply to check it out, go here! (https://cathedral.org/) It’s a beautiful structure with an even more beautiful purpose of bringing people together.
Sources: https://cathedral.org/, Wikipedia