Camp Atterbury’s Chapel in the Meadow

Outside of Camp Atterbury near Edinburgh, Indiana is a small chapel in the middle of a meadow surrounded by woods. Built by Italian POWs during World War Two, many of whom were artisans, they asked and were given permission to build a small chapel out of scrap materials in the prison camp. To find this slice of heaven, you turn off a nondescript two-lane county road, drive down a windy one-lane gravel road for a few miles and then in the middle of nowhere appears the Chapel in the Meadow.

It’s a powerful symbol of hope, a temple to the light of purpose that shines in all of us regardless of our faith, creed, or beliefs. These POWs found a way to seek the divine in the midst of imprisonment and war.

In our darkest moments, somewhere deep inside us there resides our own “Chapel in the Meadow”. It could be faith, it could be our children, it could be a lost dream, a loved one, a journey we want to take; whatever the vision, it is waiting for you to discover – not in spite of, but with the rubble of life. All our experiences, good and bad, provide the raw material, drive, and desire to make our lives better. Just like the Italian artisans of WWII building a chapel out of scraps.