Mystery of the stray cable (rev. 6-26-23)

THERE’S A SAGGING WIRE that emerges from a utility pole on Hampton Dr. and runs over to the sanctuary building. Unfortunately, it’s in the way of the pending rehabilitation of the wall.

East side of south wall, showing the sagging wire
(As usual, click/tap on an image to enlarge it.)

Below the jump, I explore what little is known about this mystery wire.…

This wire spans almost the entire sanctuary roof, until it runs straight down next to the pilaster that’s closest to Main Street, before going inside the building.

Rooftop view:  
The wire is draped over the parapet.

Looking down from roof:  
Westernmost portion of wire,
where it drops to run vertically along a pilaster.

Base of wall:  
Wire inserts into the wall, just above a newly repaired pilaster base.

At bottom of pilaster:  Close-up of insertion into wall

It used to be anchored in two places: one at the building’s eastern edge…

…and the other, near its vertical drop, as shown in an earlier photo.

As you can see, this wire sags across the face of the south wall. As such, it’s going to be in the way of our pending waterproofing project for that wall. 

So is there value to this cable? 

Well, where does it go after it enters the building? Judging from the entry point, it seems to come in just above the floor of the sanctuary, in its back corner.

However, I don’t see anything at that spot on the inside!

Our roofer says that this wire is some type of communications cable. He speculates that it is probably no longer in use—and therefore could safely be taken down altogether.

I wish I knew whether he’s right! 😐

Update 6/6/23

A week ago, I pulled on the cable to see what would happen. It came right out of the wall with little effort. I doubt that it was attached to anything. I think it was just stuffed into the hole—which is what I did with it after taking the photo below. It’s definitely not attached to anything now! 😉

Update 6/26/23

The cable did not have a measurable voltage across its two wires at the free end. It has now been dismantled. The workers repairing the south wall have sealed up the hole. With the removal of this cable, our building’s appearance is a little less cluttered than before.