On a recent road trip while driving through the sand dunes of Southeastern California I came upon a little church built atop a mound of dirt. The church, gleaming in the sun, could be seen from far away and acted as a beacon for weary travelers. Although I didn't need to stop I thought the church would make a good photography subject so I pulled off the interstate to snap a few shots.
What I didn't expect to find was Felicity, CA - a strange little oasis of a town in the middle of the desert offering quite a story. Much to my surprise this freeway exit was much more than a meager little church. It was actually the center of the world and according to law (or at least the people who were there) this is actual fact. Felicity, CA, is in fact the center of the world. I had never realized before that I lived a mere 90 miles off center of the entire world.
Felicity consists of a few simple pseudo-Mediterranean structures consisting of apartments, a restaurant, gift shop, church and a
pyramid constructed to protect the actual center of the world. There are also acres of granite etched with the story of the history of the world. Well at least some of the history since there seemed to be a whole lot of granite that remained un-etched. I met a few of the locals all of who were blonde hair, blue-eyed Caucasian women and they were excited to have me watch a seventeen minute video on Felicity but I was a little frightened and guarded. For what it was worth, this small town had a slight eerie feeling and it was unsettling - not unlike a Stepford Wives kind of thing. I passed on the video and to being sequestered in the dark "media" room.
The pyramid was locked and you aren't allowed in without an appointment. The acres of granite resembled tombstones and it felt like I had been tossed out into a cemetery that lacked trees, grass, flowers and obligatory pond. The whistling wind only added to the creepy atmosphere. I repeated the prayer, "I hope I can get back to my car and I hope that it starts," over and over under my breath. Although Felicity is obviously soliciting tourists' dollars it did feel like a trap in many ways.
Beyond the gift shop, a restaurant, pyramid and granite monolith was the church. Not surprisingly it is called The Church on the Hill. Small indeed and quite a climb I found myself the only one at the top of the hill once I got there. I was very disappointed that the church was relatively new and pretty ordinary up close. I had wanted it to be old and full of stories perhaps even haunted. My imagination was working overtime while climbing the steps so as you can imagine it was anti-climatic to find it to be so usual a structure.
I stayed though and absorbed the view. From the church you could easily see the newly constructed fence along the Mexican border designed to keep uninvited guests out of California. I remarked how rude it all seemed. This massive black fence scarred the beige dunes and without a single sign posted it managed to say "keep out" to anyone on the other side.
Back at the gift shop I looked for anything that would explain why Felicity was here. I wanted the information but I didn't want to
watch the video. I was looking for something to read later but the gift shop had very little to do with the town itself. Most of the items were typical tourist fare like postcards, t-shirts and souvenir thimbles. I didn't purchase anything since I figured an internet search would probably provide me with all that I wanted. That too turned out not to be so true since the town website raises many more questions than it answers.
I began to feel more at ease as I wandered about. It was strangely peaceful but not quite serene in Felicity and more odd curiosities were found around every corner. I noticed a circular stair case that led to nowhere and upon approach there was no sign or plaque. I was forced to ask one of the blond locals what it meant. She replied that the steps where Section 12 of the original steps of The Eiffel Tower. Okay I answered... that's odd.
From the steps to nowhere I turned around to see a bronze of a man's arm coming out of a rock and pointing to the sky. I assumed there must be some significance as the finger seemingly pointed up to The Church on The Hill. As I walked closer to the statue I could tell there were numbers on the ground and it didn't take long to figure out this was a massive sundial. According to the shadow on the ground it was two in the afternoon. I was disappointed once again as I wanted all of this oddity to mean something... to have some kind of higher purpose. Turns out the whole purpose was to charge $7.00. Felicity comes with a price tag.
I paid the money and set out on my way slightly disturbed over the entire Felicity excursion. Was this some kind of Davidian cult and were there massive stock piles of arms and ammunitions hidden away in some secret area? I began to envision another Waco experience and thought to myself that one day Felicity is going to be on the news and not in a good way. Either that or this place was some kind of portal to another time, place and dimension.... Things just don't set right in Felicity and although it may be slightly scary, you should see it firsthand to find out for yourself.
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