Dog Mountain: A Chapel Built for Dogs

Dog Mountain outside St. Johnsbury is one of the stranger and more touching places in New England. Artist Stephen Huneck bought one hundred fifty acres on this hilltop in nineteen ninety-five. The year before, he had fallen down a flight of stairs, developed a rare lung condition, and spent about two months in a coma. When he woke, he credited his dogs with helping him relearn how to walk.

Out of that experience he built a chapel on the mountain, a small white New England church with stained glass and carved wooden dogs, dedicated to the bond between people and their animals. It opened on Memorial Day weekend of two thousand. Visitors come to hike the trails with their own dogs, to sit in the chapel, and to leave handwritten notes remembering pets they have lost. After Huneck's death in two thousand ten, the nonprofit Friends of Dog Mountain took over and the chapel has remained open ever since.