Chapel of the Chimes
I decided to stop at the Chapel of the Chimes while on a solo urban hike through Oakland after a coworker highly recommended it.
When I first walked in a woman greeted me and I told her I wanted to look around. She asked if I’d be doing a self-guided tour to which I replied yes as she rounded her desk to hand me a map. She explained there were three floors as she opened up the entire map. I was taken aback by the size of the place. It was unassuming from what my mind conceived and what I saw outside.
When I opened the doors of the first floor I was overwhelmed by the immediate stillness and serenity of the space. It was so quiet that my voice echoed off the walls as I hummed my way through different corridors. I imagined I was signing to the dead and offering them songs they may have never heard or once enjoyed while living.
I thought of my late grandma, Grace, a lot as I walked around. She was laid to rest in a mausoleum and her funeral was my first time being in a place like that. I learned that she bought and paid for her plot with her own money, which she didn’t have very much of because she didn’t want to burden her children with that decision after she passed.
I thought a lot about how I may want to be laid to rest here at the Chapel of the Chimes. It’s a beautiful place and I imagined the closeness my family and friends would feel to me when visiting. It represents the parts of me that return to nature and its aesthetic beauty when I need to be centered. Oakland is also the first place I ever created a home away from home. It’s the first place I stayed for a while, truly grew in, and felt like I had something to lose by leaving.
No matter where I go next in this life Oakland is the place where I was re-born and may be the place where I will rest.
These photos were all captured with my iPhone X and edited with the native photo editing features. I hope the photos capture what my heart felt as I moved through this place. I felt alive, at peace, creative, and grateful.
If you’re in Oakland and haven’t visited yet I highly recommend it.
