Description

Travel with Bennett-Watt and learn about the oldest building in Idaho, the Cataldo Mission, that still stands today with many of its original walls.

Transcript

Cataldo Mission - the Oldest Building in Idaho Bennett-Watt: Northern Idaho’s Panhandle is mountains forest and lakes, along I-90, the oldest building in Idaho. Bill Scudder: We’re at the old Coeur d'Alene Indians and just many, many reasons why it’s special. First of all, built for the Coeur d'Alene Indians by the ancestors and Jesuit missionaries the Blackrobes Jesuit Indians called them, they wore long black gown for Jesuits Order of the Catholic Church. And it started a long time start back in—on the fall of 1850. It’s architecture lies—it’s got a lot of mid pictures like mid-renaissance and it was built in the wilderness, there was no towns, no roads everything that we use for tools we just brought here in a simple bag, handbag, a carpenter’s bag with no nails used as all these put together leave one side and take a look at that. 15 years later, they put the side, you can see the cut board side in it plus the paneling on the inside. They’re originally, this was all mud and straw. There were pulls running across out and pulls running across horizontally and then a strong grass will woven in between the pulls and then mudpack will top the strong grass. Male: It’s Idaho’s State Historic Park and our job is—the caretakers here, the State Park employees is to protect and preserve this church, make it last forever I mean we just—that's our job we can--make it last forever that’s a job is to just keep it standing. We get a lot of visitors, we have over 100,000 people here that stop by here being right next to the I-90 doesn’t hurt either, it helps us a lot. It’s just one of 25, 30 State Parks in State of Idaho and it’s—just primarily a day’s park, we don’t have camping over here but they just used facility. We have the church which is our main focus here. We also have he parish house located adjacent to the church which is a pretty old, this ride is about—it was built about in 1880s. And this been restored and it’s open to the public to take a look at that’s where the brothers and the priest live later on. We have a visitor’s center and we have summer trades on the ground and it’s just—you can probably spend an hour or an half here just kind of walking around with these things. Bennett: Like each of the states that make up this remarkable union of the United States, it’s the people that define and make them living. Thanks for watching Discoveries America, Idaho.