Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College is located a few miles northwest of Terre Haute. It is the oldest college in Indiana. In 1839, the first bishop of the Diocese of Vincennes in Indiana requested help from his home country of France. He asked for a congregation to assist in teaching the early pioneers of Indiana. Mother Theodore Guerin was asked to take on the challenge. Reluctant at first, she agreed to lead five other Sisters of Providence to Indiana.
After two months of sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and traveling into the heart of America, they made it to the forests of Indiana. The six sisters founded an academy in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods for the education of young women. In 1846, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College was granted the first charter for the higher education of women in the state of Indiana. It was the first women’s college to offer journalism courses and a degree in secondary education for women.
The beautiful campus is home to several historic and religious structures and buildings. Nestled among the trees and green lawns is a log cabin. It is a replica of a cabin the sisters used as a chapel when they first completed their long journey to Indiana. Logs to construct the replica were donated from a cabin in southern Indiana owned by David and Faye Masterson of Owensville. Construction of the log chapel was done by inmates of the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Terre Haute.
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