At Valley Forge, a battle to save a chapel [View all]
Sweat drips from her forehead. She strikes her fists on the large keys, her precision evident in the smooth and clear music that sprawls for acres across Valley Forge National Historical Park. The steamy air of a summer night seems to saturate the 100-foot Washington Memorial Chapel steeple that houses the bell tower, where Ulla Laage orchestrates the 58-bell carillon with conviction.
"These bells have a special tone to them," said Laage, a visiting carillonneur from Haslev, Demark, who kicked off the chapel's free summer concert series Wednesday night. "It's a beautiful instrument, beautiful touch, and the sound of the bells. . . . I love it, I really do."
Deborah McConomy-Wallace, 62, of Collegeville, has been a Wednesday-concert regular. She calls the sound "glorious." She rhapsodizes about the building - "an architectural gem. There's just no other place like it."
It is also a building confronting a $4.5 million repair bill, and McConomy-Wallace is doing something about it. She has joined the Washington Memorial Chapel Capital Campaign steering committee to restore the century-old complex, which includes the carillon, the chapel, and surrounding structures.
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