Tiny Church: Our Lady of the Pines

There is a tiny church off of Highway 219 in West Virginia that touts itself as "The Smallest Church in 48 States" and, when we got there, we could see why.

It's a tiny church! Our Lady of the Pines Roman Catholic church is tiny, only 12 feet wide by 24 feet long. It will seat 12 congregants (uncomfortably, as the pews are tiny, too), features a functioning outhouse (downwind, of course), and is situated very near to a tiny post office.

The church was built in 1958 by locals, in memory of family members. There are 6 stained-glass windows and the church features the stations of the cross, carved in (what appears to be) pine logs. It also features (what I assume is) one of the country's smallest confessionals.

These pictures don't do it justice. It looks like an HVAC register, but it 's really the confessional window. I'm not sure which side of the window is for the priest and which side is for the guilt-laden, but here is the curtain that hides one or the other:

It was a cool little place to stop for a moment (I needed the outhouse, anyway).

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