Meanwhile Robin had leaped lightly over the
chancel rail and stationed himself in a nook by the altar.
Wood craftsmen built the pulpit, altar table,
chancel rail, and paneling; the millwork was donated by Charles Carson, a Swedish-Finn immigrant who owned a Chicago construction firm and whose summer home was next to Forsberg's.
In estate churches (as well as, more illustriously, in Westminster Abbey) monuments to the noble dead occupied and defined a social space, ranked not only by their size and the richness of their materials but by their location: those situated within the
chancel rail, for example, held th e most desirable "place" since the congregation facing the high altar would have them constantly in view.
The
chancel rail was accented with garlands of grapevine, swags of fall leaves, orange gerberas, hypericum berries and hydrangeas.