Worship in Wautoma

This cozy chapel offers services on Saturdays at 5:30pm, from spring through fall.

St. Mary Chapel, on Bugh’s Lake, Wautoma, was originally gifted to the diocese. Subsequently In the 1950’s it was given to St. Peter’s. This chapel was built by John Barnes, a corporal in the U.S. Army Fifth Wisconsin Infantry in World War I. Barnes was aboard the USS Tuscania when it was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland. While adrift in the North Atlantic, Barnes prayed to have his life spared and, vowed that if he lived, he would build a chapel dedicated to St. Mary. Barnes was rescued and returned to Wautoma. A mason by trade, he built a chapel on his property on Bugh’s Lake in 1932. Clergy from St. Peter’s have celebrated the Eucharist at St. Mary’s on Saturdays, spring through fall. Seating up to 25 people, the chapel is an intimate setting with a choir of birds, frogs and crickets.