************************Yosemite Chapel************************
*************One of Yosemite’s Famous Landmarks****************
Located in the breathtakingly beautiful Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California, the Yosemite Chapel, Yosemite’s oldest structure, has touched the lives of untold thousands of people who have come from around the world to Yosemite Valley and been blessed through their visits to this serene environment.
Of the structures in public use in Yosemite National Park, the Yosemite Valley Chapel is now the oldest. This little New England style church was built under the sponsorship of the California State Sunday School Association, partly by subscriptions from the children, but mainly from the voluntary contributions of prominent members of the Association.
The Chapel was built in 1879 by those who recognized that the God who created our wonderful surroundings is even more incredible than His creation. As the psalmist declares "O God, You are more awesome than Your holy places" (Psalm 68:35).
Mr. Charles Geddes, a leading architect of San Francisco, made and presented the plans. Mr. E. Thomson, also of San Francisco, erected the building at a cost of between three and four thousand dollars. It will seat an audience of about two hundred and fifty. Mr. H. D. Bacon of Oakland donated the bell. When its first notes rang out on the evening of dedication, it was the first sound of "the church-going bell" ever heard in Yosemite.
