Qualla: Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission

Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. In 1847, three Episcopal monks knelt for private confession in a mountain valley in western North Carolina. By the standards of the antebellum Episcopal Church, this was nearly heresy. The Order of the Holy Cross at Valle Crucis lasted only a few years before being dissolved as too Catholic for American Protestantism - but in that brief window, it operated a monastery, a divinity school, a working farm, and a school that prepared at least one enslaved man's son for ordained ministry.

Image: Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission: Vale of the Cross

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. The name Valle Crucis - Latin for Vale of the Cross - was given to the valley by Episcopal Bishop Levi Silliman Ives, who saw the convergence of three streams as a natural cross laid into the landscape. Ives established the mission in 1842, importing the Rev. William Glenny Frenc...

Image: Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission: The Classical and Agricultural School

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. What did endure was the school. The Classical and Agricultural School at Valle Crucis was the first in North Carolina to teach practical agriculture alongside Latin and theology. One section prepared young men for the ministry - and in 1850, William Alston, identified in mission ...

Image: Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission: The Church of the Holy Cross

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. The Gothic Revival stone church visitors see today was built in 1924, its cornerstone laid by Episcopal masons who shaped the chancel walls from local stone. The parquet floor is unique in the valley - made from the cutoff end-pieces of 2x4s, each three inches thick, dovetailed a...

Image: Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0

Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission: Hermitages and the Turnpike

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Brian Stansberry, CC BY 3.0. Beyond the main complex sit four small cabin hermitages and the Chapel of St. Anthony, opened to artists, writers, educators, and visitors of any faith who want a few days of contemplation. The chapel has a hickory floor, a hand-hewn altar, and local artwork on the walls. Outside...

Image: Brian Stansberry | CC BY 3.0