Thorncrown Chapel is the prettiest thing to see in Eureka Springs, which is itself a lovely town. Eureka Springs is in the Ozarks of Arkansas, which provides a beautiful (and steep) setting for the town. The Chapel is about a mile and half out of town in the picturesque woods.
You can visit the chapel during the day and they have services on Sunday.
Thorncrown chapel has 425 windows and 6,000 square feet of glass. This makes you feel like you are both in church and out in nature at the same time. It is very peaceful.
The feeling of being in nature is most noticeable behind the altar and along the edges of the chapel.
The chapel site was purchased by Jim Reed in 1971. He planned to build his retirement home there, but got so many people wanted to visit the pretty site that he decided a chapel would be a better use of the land.
The famous Arkansas architect E. Fay Jones designed the chapel. The project ran into financial trouble when it was half finished. Jim Reed prayed his hardest and the chapel was able to be finished. It opened in July of 1980.
Jones designed the chapel with minimum site impact in mind. Local pine was used, in small enough pieces that they could be carried through the woods, and put together on site. Native stone was used for the floor. There is very little steel in the building--just a little in the trusses.
Jim Reed called it a "place to think the best thoughts." You can see why!
For more information, the Thorncrown Chapel website is here.
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