Post by Grubb.
That’s the year it was all over for Miss Nancy Lawson. She was a follower of William Miller, an early 19th-century religious leader who believed the world would end at that time. There is a portrait of Miss Lawson painted by William Matthew Prior that hangs in the Webb Gallery at the Shelburne Museum in Burlington, Vermont.
(The Shelburne Museum is made up of 38 separate 19th century buildings located in a large park. Why the 19th century? What can I say? When I stepped through that opening in the rock, it’s the universe that appeared.)
So I’m standing in front of this portrait when a museum docent points out a reference to Miller’s 1843 rapture in the lower right hand corner of the painting.
Sure enough, the figures of Miss Lawson and her companion are shown walking into the glow of another world. I wondered, is that the portal I entered from a different direction? I’ve gone back in time; did Miss Lawson get thrust forward? That would mean we’re both in parallel universes only traveling in opposite directions. I’m in some 19th century theme park ducking to avoid hitting my head on a lintel, and she’s testing out a Tesla in D.C.