Scripture Verse

Enter into His sanctuary, which He hath sanctified for ever. 2 Chronicles 30:8

Introduction

Words & Mu­sic: Will­iam S. Pitts, 1857 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
William S. Pitts
(1830–1918)

One bright af­ter­noon of a day in June 1857, I first set foot in old Brad­ford, Io­wa, com­ing by stage from Mc­Gre­gor. My home was in Wis­con­sin. The spot where the Lit­tle Brown Church now stands was a set­ting of rare beau­ty. There was no church there, but the spot was there wait­ing for it. When back in my home I wrote the song ‘The Lit­tle Brown Church in the Vale.’ I put the ma­nu­script away. In the spring of 1862 I re­turned to Io­wa and set­tled at Fred­er­icks­burg

In the years of 1859 and 1860 the good peo­ple of Brad­ford were de­ter­mined to build a church…By the ear­ly win­ter of 1864 the build­ing was rea­dy for de­di­ca­tion. While I was hold­ing the sing­ing school, near its close in the spring, the class went one ev­en­ing to the church. It was not then seat­ed, but rude seats were im­pro­vised. My ma­nu­script of the song I had brought with me from Wis­con­sin. It had ne­ver been sung be­fore by an­y­one but my­self. I sang it there. Soon af­ter­wards I took the ma­nu­script to Chi­ca­go [Il­li­nois], where it was pub­lished by H. M. Hig­gins. It won a speedy re­cog­ni­tion lo­cal­ly and with the years won its way in­to the hearts of the peo­ple of the world.

Soon af­ter its pub­li­ca­tion the church at Brad­ford, which had been paint­ed brown (for want of mo­ney to buy bet­ter paint, some say), be­came known as The Lit­tle Brown Church in the Vale. My hope is that it will stand for a thou­sand years and call the old man and his des­cen­dants to wor­ship.

This song was po­pu­lar­ized by the world­wide ev­an­gel­ism cam­paign of Arthur Chap­man and Charles M. Al­ex­an­der in 1893, and by the Wea­ther­wax Bro­thers Quar­tet, be­gin­ning around 1910.

It has been per­formed by many oth­ers as well, in­clud­ing the Car­ter fa­mi­ly, An­dy Grif­fith and Don Knotts, and the Gai­thers.

Numerous cou­ples still mar­ry in the church each year (over 70,000 since re­cord keep­ing start­ed in 1918), and the church holds an an­nu­al wed­ding re­un­ion.

Lyrics

illustration
The Little Brown Church
Nashua, Iowa

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

Refrain

Come to the church in the wild­wood,
Oh, come to the church in the dale,
No spot is so dear to my child­hood,
As 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,
Oh, come to the church in the vale.

Refrain

There, close by the church in the val­ley,
Lies one that I loved so well;
She sleeps, sweet­ly sleeps, ’neath the wil­low,
Disturb not her rest in the vale.

Refrain

There, close by the side of that loved one,
To trees where the wild flow­ers bloom,
When the fare­well hymn shall be chant­ed
I shall rest by her side in the tomb.

Refrain

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.

Refrain

illustration
Weatherwax Brothers