Pine Valley, Washington County 1868
Built in 1995

Scottish shipbuilder Ebenezer Bryce built this meetinghouse in the early Southern Utah settlement of Pine Valley, 25 miles north of St. George, where it remains today as one of the state’s architectural treasures. Using traditional shipbuilding techniques, Bryce first assembled the walls on the ground and raised them into place. The roof, which resembles the inverted hull of a ship, was joined with the walls using wooden pegs and strips of rawhide instead of nails. Of his first attempt at building construction, Bryce purportedly said, “If floods come it will float and if the winds blow, it may roll over, but it will never crash!” Upon completion of the main meetinghouse, the building’s lower floor was converted into a two-room school for the benefit of the local children.

Our replica, scaled down to about 90% of the original, has been made to look like the original as closely as possible. The pine benches and woodwork have been grained in the pioneer tradition to resemble hardwoods from the Eastern states.