The roots of Silver Dollar City’s Wilderness Church run deep with faith, family and a little luck.
Originally built in 1849, the humble log structure began as a one-room schoolhouse that doubled as a church for a small Stone County community. Tucked beside a quiet creek, its hand-hewn walls echoed with children’s laughter during the week and Sunday sermons on the weekend. But when the school closed in 1949, the old building was left to fade by the water’s edge.
That might’ve been the end if not for a timely twist of fate.
In the 1950s, Hugo Herschend spotted the crumbling structure in a magazine and traveled to the Ozarks to see it for himself. By then, it had become a hay barn, and the farmer who owned it planned to chop it into firewood that very day. Hugo arrived just in time. He bought the building on the spot for a hundred bucks and had it carefully dismantled—each log numbered and stacked—for future use.
Those logs waited six long years. When Silver Dollar City opened in 1960, the schoolhouse was reborn as the Wilderness Church, one of the very first buildings to welcome guests to the brand-new theme park. Though Hugo had passed away by then, his wife, Mary, was determined to bring his vision to life, working alongside their sons, Jack and Peter.
Mary refused to let a single tree be cut down without purpose. So, when it came time to furnish the church, the pulpit was hand-carved from a fallen oak to honor the natural beauty of the Ozarks.
The Wilderness Church even had a brush with Hollywood. When The Beverly Hillbillies filmed at Silver Dollar City in the 1960s, actor Buddy Ebsen who played Jed Clampett picked up an axe and helped hew one of the church’s logs during filming, forever leaving a slice of television history at the park.
The Herschend family’s deep-rooted beliefs shaped every beam and board of the Wilderness Church. In Silver Dollar City’s early years, the entire park would pause on Sundays for a half-hour of worship, inviting guests and employees alike to gather together in faith.
Today, the Wilderness Church still stands as a symbol of love, legacy and the values that built Silver Dollar City—a sacred space rooted in history and in heaven. Sunday services continue March through October at 10 and 11 a.m., with old-fashioned hymn sing-alongs held each operating day.
As Public Relations Manager for the Silver Dollar City Company, she is eager to tap into her journalism background to hunt down “heart tugs” to write about—those stories that celebrate…
