“The church immortalized in ‘The Little Brown Church in the Vale’ still stands near Nashua (Chickasaw County), Iowa, in a vale of trees now grown taller than its bell tower. Pioneers built it in 1864, contributing all the timber, stone and labor themselves. William S. Pitts, a country doctor and music teacher, saw in the serenity of the site such a striking testament to faith that he penned this tribute. The song, also called ‘The Church in the Wildwood,’ made the little church so widely known that, when it was to be torn down in 1888, admirers who knew it because of Pitts’ tune banded together to preserve it.” —100 Favorite Songs Of Faith, Friendship And Love

The Little Brown Church in the Vale Lyrics

(Words and Music by William S. Pitts)

There’s a church in the valley by the wildwood
no lovelier place in the dale
No spot is so dear to my childhood
than the little brown church in the vale

CHORUS

O come, come, come, come,
come to the church in the wildwood
O come to the church in the dale
No spot is so dear to my childhood
than the little brown church in the vale

How sweet on a clear Sabbath morning
to list to the clear ringing bell
Its tones so sweetly are calling
O come to the church in the vale

CHORUS

From the church in the valley by the wildwood
when day fades away into night
I would fain from this spot of my childhood
Wing my way to the mansions of light

CHORUS