Acoaxet Chapel’s new ramp an accessible and architectural gem

By Bruce Burdett
Posted 12/10/16

One thing separates the handicapped accessible ramp at Acoaxet Chapel from most others out there.

It looks nothing like a handicapped ramp.

From out front, even from up close, the 175-year-old …

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Acoaxet Chapel’s new ramp an accessible and architectural gem

Posted

One thing separates the handicapped accessible ramp at Acoaxet Chapel from most others out there.

It looks nothing like a handicapped ramp.

From out front, even from up close, the 175-year-old chapel looks as good as ever — better perhaps with it’s new white fence and traditional posts.

Stanley Cornwall can appreciate the addition from two perspectives.

He’s a long-time member of the chapel and he is chairman of the town’s Commission on Disability.

“It is beautifully, beautifully designed and built,” Mr. Cornwall said.

Members were united in their belief that a ramp was necessary, he said, but concerned that it not detract from the look of the lovely 36 Howland Road chapel in south Westport near the Little Compton line.

They needn’t have worried.

“Every time I visit I appreciate it,” he said. “It looks like it was supposed to be there … like it was always part of the chapel.”

Pastor Mark Gelinas has high praise for the result.

“The new ramp adorning the front of Acoaxet Chapel was wonderfully designed, executed by the workers flawlessly, and looks like it belongs to the overall structure of the chapel - while at the same time giving the appearance of a whole new front.

“A group of dedicated people raised the funds, had the plans laid out by a sensitive, caring architect,” Pastor Gelinas said, “and the ones who did the actual work would have been able to work on Solomon's own Temple!

“It looks wonderful and meets the needs of young, old and those who have physical disabilities to enter the chapel to worship our good God and Father.”

The finished product is a result of good fortune and much generosity from congregation and community.

An earlier plan was to run the ramp along the chapel’s left side to a window at the rear of the building.

“But then a most generous person offered to help out with the plan and design.” That anonymous donor, a chapel member from Little Compton, is an internationally known landscape architect who once directed landscape and conservation design work at New York’s Bronx Zoo.

The new plan put the ramp right out front, “yet it fits perfectly,” Mr. Cornwall said.

An important bonus is that those who need this ramp need not enter alone through some side door but can arrive and leave with their friends.

The ramp will be put right to work.

“We have a number of older members,” who, even if not in wheelchairs, “have trouble climbing steps; some walk with a cane.” This ramp, with its gradual slope and solid railing makes life much easier.

“I should know,” Mr. Cornwall said.

A few years ago, he suffered a bad ankle break and for awhile had to be assisted up a temporary metal ramp into the chapel. One day a man helping him up the slippery ramp fell hard and almost landed on the injured list as well.

Realizing the need for something more permanent, chapel members had already been collecting funds. “We are like a big family but that is a lot of money for a small group to raise.”

Then the town’s Community Preservation Committee stepped in with a grant for $10,000, an amount approved by Town Meeting voters. “That’s really what made it possible to do this right.”

Mr. Cornwall had high praise for the builders.

Hired to construct the ramp was Simmons Construction Company of Little Compton.

“They are incredible craftsmen — it looks like fine furniture.” The ramp treads are fashioned from Ipe, one of the world’s most durable woods.

George Brown of Westport, “a magician with stone,” handled the stone work that somehow helps make an elevation gap from driveway to ramp vanish.

The finished product has earned rave reviews, Mr. Cornwall said.

Among the fans are members of the CPC — one suggested that pictures of the job be submitted to the state to show how a handicapped accessible ramp can look (and Mr. Cornwall invites community members to stop in and give it a try).

They have also received praise from the Westport Historical Commission which permitted work to the historically important building.

Upkeep on a 175-year-old building is never done and chapel members are already looking upward to the next big job — the steeple. They have begun raising money to protect and restore it and the bell inside.

This, too, promises to be a costly project that will likely entail another plea for help from the CPC.

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