Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving
Holy Land U.S.A., Waterbury, CT 1972
In 1972 Holy Land's huge cross, visible from the nearby interstate highway, caught my attention. Why was it there? What did it mean? What I saw on entering is what these pictures reveal--a puzzling array of devotional iconography that borrowed from popular idioms of miniature golf and theme parks. At the time, I thought of it merely as an idiosyncratic construction built by some obsessed creator. I didn't realize how important it was to the city of Waterbury and to the people who visited it, how making palpable the life of Jesus, illustrating the meaning of God's word and reinforcing the message of the crucifixion could serve to verify and strengthen people's beliefs.
The miniature village has now fallen into serious disrepair. But at its height something like 40,000 tourists a year came to see it and be inspired.
I hope these images will show Holy Land as it was and as it was intended to be—a place to immerse oneself in the idea of grace and good will.
