Old church receives new renovations
One of the most historic buildings in Cache Valley is the Old Rock Church, located in Providence, Utah.
The building has been used for a myriad of different reasons over the years, including a church, a wedding and reception hall, a fabric store and an elderly residential care facility. It has undergone extensive remodeling over the years, and is currently in the midst of another renovation.
The Old Rock Church is most frequently used for wedding ceremonies, luncheons and receptions. According to Karl Seethaler, owner of the church and accompanying bed and breakfast, summer is the busiest time of the year for weddings at the church. Seethaler said there are usually five to nine weddings a month during the summer.
One of the renovations the building is currently undergoing is a back deck and outdoor wedding area. Seethaler plans to be ready for outdoor weddings this coming spring with tree-lined sidewalks, fountains, and a grand staircase for the bride to walk down.
Another wedding amenity that the Old Rock Church has recently added is their bride’s dressing room. Everything a bride could need is available. When planning the dressing room, Seethaler said a lot of thought went into making it as elegant as possible for the bride.
“We want to make the bride feel like a princess, which is what she is,” he said.
There is a large closet for both the bride and her party, plenty of mirrors for getting ready and surround-sound system that will hook up to an iPod. The bridal dressing room exits three ways, one to a hallway, another to a spiral staircase for indoor weddings and the third to the staircase down the deck to the outdoor wedding area.
Attached to the Old Rock Church, is the Providence Inn Bed & Breakfast. Opened in 1994 by Seethaler and boasting 17 luxurious rooms and suites, the bed and breakfast has played host to people from all over the world. Neil Morrison, chief marketer for the inn said guests come from a wide geographical range.
“We’ve had people from Australia, China, Europe, pretty much everywhere,” he said.
All rooms have king or queen size beds, wireless Internet, cable TV and jetted tubs. The inn has a large breakfast menu and staff to start their guest’s morning off right.
The church and inn are located in the heart of the Providence Historic District. Seethaler said the Historic District was accepted by the Board of State members on Sept. 6, 2007 to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, history.utah.gov.
While the inn and church have been remodeled, Seethaler said he is careful to keep history intact. An old chimney remains in the yard of the inn and one of the inn’s suites is located behind the inn itself, in a historic house.
There is also an old grainery that has remained. A monument once stood in front of the inn but was removed years ago.
As part of the Providence sesquicentennial, Seethaler said a replica monument will be displayed and dedicated on the north-west corner of the inn’s lawn early in 2009.
According to a book on Providences’ history, “Providence and Her People,” on Nov. 8, 1869, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met to discuss building a rock meeting-house on the north-west corner of Center and Main Street. They agreed on paying workers $1.25 or one bushel of wheat per day.
Every man that was able, helped with the construction, and by the end of 1870 the walls and roof were completed. Upon completion, the entire cost of the building was $12,800, all of which was provided by church members.
The Rock Church served not only as a religious meeting house, but also as a social and cultural meeting-place. Seethaler said dances on weekend were held in the church, and performers would often perform on the stage there.
In 1926, an earthquake cracked the old building and a new building began to be constructed in 1967. Seethaler said the previous building was sold to a private company who turned it into Rosella Manor, a wedding chapel.
In 1974, it was again converted into Fabric Manor, a yardage store. Around 1925, a two story annex, with costs totaling $25,342, was built onto the rock church.
–kandice.crompton@aggiemail.usu.edu
The grand staircase in the Old Rock Church is decorated for new brides to walk down (Debra Hawkins)