Welcome to the Little Brown Church in the Vale
William Pitts was a young man when he traveled to Iowa from Wisconsin in 1857 to visit his bride. The stagecoach he was riding passed through the frontier town of Bradford. It was here that Pitts wrote, "I was in love and the beauty of the village surrounded by trees struck my fancy. I had a vision of a little church in the midst of the town." It was back in Wisconsin he wrote the song "The Church in the Wildwood" about a church not yet constructed, putting it away in a drawer and forgetting all about it for several years.
It took four years to complete the church. The biggest problem was the cost of the white paint during the Civil War, so the cheapest paint to be found was Ohio Mineral Paint, which would protect the wood but which was unhappily brown - a color that would remain even today.
When the work to build the little frontier church was complete, the members also founded a school known as the Bradford Academy. The school offered the music teaching position to Pitts as he had moved to nearby Fredericksburg, Iowa. He is buried in Fredericksburg's Rose Hill Cemetery.
A wedding tradition began and today some couples share a four-generation family tradition. Over 75,000 couples have repeated their wedding vows at the church. On the first Sunday in August, hundreds of couples come with their families to celebrate and renew their wedding vows.
It is still an active congregation that meets every Sunday and visitors are always welcome.
To get credit for this cache, message or email the answers to the following questions:
1. What letter do the metal handrails make at the end? How many of these do you find along the walk?
2. At the back of the church, you will notice a brown pipe in the middle of the building. How many slats does this cover?
I hope you enjoyed your time at the church, lawns, and parkway. A shelter is available for a picnic. Pictures are encouraged, but not required, as long as they do not show the answers to the questions even if encrypted. This is truly a neat location for everyone to visit and explore. Thank you coming. Be sure to check out the nearby Old Bradford Pioneer Village. Safe Travels Always!!!
The building is open daily dawn to dusk.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.
