On Saturday April 5th, 2008 we were on a mission. To find a place to look for rocks. Both Toni and I have a budding interest in rockhounding and thought the Owyhee Mountains would be a good place to start our search. While driving along Highway 78 to the south and west of Mountain Home, we found the Oreana Loop Road.
This is the rock wall we found.
The Rocks We Found
The rock we found were not exactly what we originally expected. Instead we found an old Mission Style church in Oreana, Idaho made from the local rocks in the area. We were amazed by the architecture of this wonderful building. The old mission style church is now “Our Lady Queen of Heaven” Catholic Church.
Click image for a larger picture
History of These Rocks
As it turns out the building that now houses Our Lady Queen of Heaven Mission Church was built as a general store in the 1880’s and was converted to its present use as a church in 1961. There is a bell tower on the church that I understand is from a church that was in the town of Silver City, Idaho. Of course, Silver City is now known as one of the best preserved “ghost towns” in the US.
Getting to this Mission Style Church
The Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church is located jut north of the intersection of Triangle Road and Oreana Road. It's the tan building about 200 feet south of the pod (black square?). You'll need to zoom in on the map and pan south to find the church on the above Google Map.
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