Church in the Wildwood
The words to the poem, The Church in the Wildwood, were written by W.S. Pitts in 1857 following a stagecoach trip. During a stopover, Pitts wandered in the nearby woodlands where he found a particularly beautiful wooded valley formed by a nearby river. He envisioned the small valley a perfect place for a church and could not get the thought from his mind until he had written the poem. The words were soon set to music and eventually become the folk song sang known today.
About five years after writing the poem, Pitts once again traveled through the area and was surprised to find a church had been erected in the little valley. It even had a coat of brown paint, a common color in those days because it was the least expensive.
Shortly thereafter, Pitts sold the rights to the song for $25 to pay for tuition to medical school where he became a doctor.
The church in the above illustration is not that of Pitts which still stands today. Instead, it is the church in the wildwood of my own childhood as I remember the small structure. It too still stands and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The link below is to The Church in the Wildwood sang by Dolly Parton.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRbasj13PII
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