Pine Valley Chapel & Tithing Office

Ebenezer Bryce was a shipwright, not a church builder, so when Pine Valley asked him to raise a chapel in 1868, the story goes he built the only way he knew: like a ship turned upside down. Folklore or not, the building is a marvel. The walls were framed flat, hoisted upright, and lashed with wooden pegs and rawhide that tightened as it dried, scarcely a nail in it. It has held services ever since, the oldest Latter-day Saint chapel in continuous use. Bryce moved on and left his name on a canyon you may have heard of.

What the plaque says

National Register Utah Historic Site Pine Valley Chapel Built in 1868. Designed after the New England chapel pattern by Ebenezer Bryce, a ship builder, who said he was building it like a ship. Division of State History N-20

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Snow Canyon State Park — 15 mi
  Red and white sandstone cliffs with ancient lava flows
• Kolob Canyons — 19 mi
  The quiet, uncrowded back door to Zion National Park
• Hurricane Canal Trail — 19 mi
  The hand-dug canal that built Hurricane, now a walking trail blasted into the Virgin River gorge
• St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm — 20 mi
  Real dinosaur footprints preserved in ancient sandstone

More markers nearby

• Wood for Pine Valley Chapel and Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ — steps away
• Pine Valley — 1.3 mi
• Mountain Meadow Memorial (5) Panels — 8.8 mi
• Mountain Meadows Trail & Camp — 9.2 mi