PINE VALLEY, Utah — After hearing from a concerned FOX 13 News viewer about a rumor that the Pine Valley Meetinghouse in Washington County, the oldest in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was going to be torn down, we got some answers.
About 35 miles north of St. George, sits the town of Pine Valley, and across a green field, you'll find the Pine Valley Chapel House that was built in 1868.
"It's been known as the longest continually used chapel in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," explained Pine Valley native and historian Larry Gardner.
The chapel is important enough that a reproduction was built and featured inside This is the Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. Even if the gates are currently locked, it doesn’t take long to find visitors from other states and other countries arrive to take a look.
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"In Europe, we have a lot of churches, so I just wanted to see and maybe compare a little bit and see how it looks like here," shared Dana Juraskova, who was visiting Tuesday from the Czech Republic.
Brian Blatter was visiting from California for the first time since his parents brought him when he was around 10 years old. He returned this week to show the meetinghouse to his sons.
"All my life, I've always thought of this as a gem, a gem of southern Utah," Blatter said.
But are this gem’s days numbered, as the rumor claims is due to the deterioration of the 157-year-old building?
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Dan Wilding, the stake president for Pine Valley, said those rumors are false. However, the days of the meetinghouse as a full-time place of worship are coming to an end due to its jurisdiction being transferred to the Church’s historical wing.
Congregants will be moved to an under-construction chapel in Central, six miles away, while the Pine Valley Meetinghouse will become a place for historic tours much like the St. George Tabernacle.
The news is a relief to Gardner, who notes the chapel was built like a ship by shipbuilder and Scottish emigre, Ebenezer Bryce. The same Bryce for whom Bryce Canyon is named.
"The church, built like a ship … there's something symbolic of that," Gardner shared. 'That you can escape the world and you can find hope and happiness and cleanliness and protection in the house of the Lord."
