Why am I telling you this? Because that church, and many other beautiful churches, are featured in one of my favorite gift books of the season — White on White: Churches of Rural New England by Steve Rosenthal.

This book is simply stunning. Its oversized format draws you right into the striking black and white photos of some of the prettiest churches in New England. Simple and elegant, the churches represent a simpler time when the church was the center of life in 18th and 19th century. At the same time, the architectural details of these buildings show the evolution of design sensibilities and purpose. In the introduction to this book, Verlyn Klinkenborg tells us that, “Many of the early New England village churches in this book were not originally painted white. The color came into fashion during the Greek revival of the early nineteenth century and was meant to mimic stone.” Still, one cannot imagine New England without the classic white buildings dotting the landscape.

This blog post cannot possibly do justice to the beauty of this book, you must see it in person. In the meantime, here are a few more sample images to inspire you. Thank you to our friends at The Monacelli Press, the publisher of this gorgeous volume, for giving us the permission to share these photos with you.

All photos, copyright Steve Rosenthal, 2009, used by permission.