Little Brown Church in the Vale
N 42° 57.722 W 092° 30.466
15T E 540145 N 4756716
The Little Brown Church in the Vale has visitors all day long.
Waymark Code: WMVEB
Location: Iowa, United States
Date Posted: 10/16/2006
Views: 131
Many years ago, a young man, William Pitts, came to this area to meet his future wife. While waiting for the horses to be changed on the stagecoach in Bradford, Iowa, near the current town of Nashua, he went for a short walk. He saw a beautiful meadow surrounded by trees, and it inspired him to write a song when he returned back to the East. He put the song “Church in the Wildwood” in a drawer and forgot about it.
Back in Iowa, the local church congregation had decided that they were tired of meeting in abandoned buildings and each others homes. They decided to build a church. One family donated Land for the church. Another donated the sawing of the lumber. Limestone was locally quarried for the foundation. Within a couple years the church was enclosed without having spent any money. But paint was something that could not be produced locally. A brown colored oil paint was the cheapest on the market. The church became a brown church.
Mr. Pitts and his wife returned to Bradford. He had taken a job as the music teacher at the Bradford Academy.
Imagine his surprise when he discovered that a church had been built in that wooded meadow. He dug out the song, taught it to his music class, and they sang it, for the first time in public, at the dedication service of the church. The church had been built after his previous visit, and it had been painted brown without knowing about the song. The lyrics at the beginning of the song tell about a church,
“There's a church in the valley by the wildwood,
No lovelier spot in the dale;
No place is so dear to my childhood,
As the little brown church in the vale.”
Located 2 miles east of Nashua, Iowa, the town of Bradford has disappeared. The only building left is The Little Brown Church in the Vale. The congregation celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2004. The church still holds services each Sunday and has many visitors. They perform over one hundred wedding services each year for couples from around the world. Stop in, the doors are open for your visit. If you call in advance, they offer guided tours.
Next door is the recently opened Bradford Pioneer Village and Museum operated by the Chickasaw County Historical Society.