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By 1862 Pitts was married, and he and his wife moved to
Fredericksburg to be near her elderly parents. He was surprised upon his return to the area to find a church being erected where he had imagined it five years before. The building was even being painted brown, because that was the least
62:. While viewing the spot, Pitts envisioned a church building there and could not seem to ease the vision from his mind. Returning to his home in Wisconsin, he wrote "The Church in the Wildwood" for his own sake, eventually saying of its completion, "only then was I at peace with myself."
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Shortly into the new century, the
Society For The Preservation of The Little Brown Church was founded, and by 1914, services were again held in the building. Shortly afterward, the small congregation experienced a revival that attracted new attention to it and to its song.
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expensive color of paint to be found. During the winter of 1863-64, Pitts taught a singing class at
Bradford Academy. He had his class sing the song at the dedication of the new church in 1864. This was the first time the song was sung by anyone apart from Pitts himself.
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in the mid-1920s, many visitors came to the newly reopened little church. Since then the church has become a popular tourist spot, and remains so today. It attracts thousands of visitors every year to see or be married in "the little brown church in the vale."
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30:. It is a song about a church in a valley near the town, though the church was not actually built until several years later. In the years since, the church has become known simply as "
82:. To pay his enrollment fees, he sold the rights to the song to a music publisher for $ 25. He completed medical school, graduating in 1868, but the song was again forgotten.
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to be on a bigger river. The town was once the county seat, but population was in steady decline, and the church had grown neglected. In 1888, the church was closed.
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in the 1920s and '30s and used as their trademark song "The Church in the
Wildwood." They would quite easily talk about the little church during their travels.
58:, the stage stopped at Bradford and allowed Pitts to wander in the area and enjoy the woodlands. Pitts found particular beauty in a wooded valley formed by the
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Nearing the twentieth century, small
Bradford was in great decline. The village had been bypassed by a new railroad through
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As the song grew in popularity, coupled with the development of the
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Official site of The Little Brown Church of the Vale, history page
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Among those who found and loved the song at this time was the
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History of
Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume 1
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http://desmoinesregister.com/extras/iowans/pitts.html
177:http://www.littlebrownchurch.org/churchhistory.cfm
54:During a stagecoach ride to visit his fiancée in
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166:. S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1919, p. 228.
26:in 1857 following a coach ride that stopped in
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192:Official site of The Little Brown Church
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197:Website of the City of Nashua, Iowa
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22:is a song that was written by Dr.
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203:Short biography of William Pitts
209:Encyclopædia Britannica article
149:Longden, Tom. "Famous Iowans."
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153:URL accessed on June 3, 2006
20:"The Church in the Wildwood"
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205:on the Des Moines Register
230:American Christian hymns
162:Fairbairn, Robert Herd.
74:In 1865, Pitts moved to
32:the Little Brown Church
235:Chickasaw County, Iowa
105:Popularity of the song
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70:Forgetting of the song
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199:historic places page
80:Rush Medical College
56:Fredericksburg, Iowa
130:U.S. Highway system
48:Little Brown Church
38:Origins of the song
240:19th-century hymns
115:Weatherwax Quartet
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91:New Hampton, Iowa
76:Chicago, Illinois
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211:on the song
60:Cedar River
225:1857 songs
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16:1857 song
121:and the
119:Canada
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