Cataldo Mission (Old Mission State Park) — Quirky Museums & Collections in Spokane

Entry No. 59 — the Spokane file — filed under: history

Cataldo Mission (Old Mission State Park)

The oldest standing building in Idaho, this 1850s mission church was raised by Coeur d'Alene Tribe members and Jesuit missionaries entirely without nails, using wooden pegs and hand-shaped stone. Its ceiling is stained blue not with paint but with hand-pressed huckleberries, the walls wear hand-painted Philadelphia newspaper, and flattened tin cans were fashioned into faux chandeliers. It is a genuinely strange feat of improvised frontier craftsmanship about an hour east of Spokane.

The move: Tour the nail-free church and hunt for the huckleberry-stained ceiling and tin-can chandeliers up close.

📍 Before you go Idaho state park day-use fee applies; the church interior is best seen during open park hours.

Where: 31732 S Mission Rd, Cataldo, ID (Coeur d'Alene's Old Mission State Park)

Hours: Added 2026-06-24 — confirm current hours before you go.

#roadside-oddity #offbeat-museum #history #no-nails #state-park #idaho

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3

last checked: 2026-06-24