Wyoming
Tiny St. Alban’s Chapel In The Middle Of Nowhere… | Cowboy State Daily
Nestled in the Snowy Range Mountains sits a quiet mountain chapel.
With stunning views of the range and the Centennial Valley, St. Alban’s Chapel near Little Brooklyn Lake draws outdoor enthusiasts, engaged couples and parishioners of St. Matthew’s Cathedral to the site year after year.
“It’s this little chapel on a hill, but it overlooks the big vast valley,” said photographer Rick Osborne. “It’s just beautiful.”
One-of-A-Kind Wedding Venue
Osborne and his wife Stephanie of Ardent Photography photograph at least two or three weddings at the chapel every summer. He said it’s one of the couple’s favorite places to capture ceremonies in the Snowies.
“I think there’s not really anything that compares to St. Alban’s Chapel in that area,” Osborne said. “It’s unique in the fact that you can have your ceremony right there in the Snowies. You don’t have to bring in your own seating. It’s extremely affordable. And so I think that’s why it’s always so busy and booked out. It’s beautiful. It’s accommodating. It just kind of checks all those boxes.”
Sara Haugen decided St. Alban’s Chapel was the perfect spot for her mountain wedding after several hiking, camping and fly-fishing adventures in the Snowy Range with her future husband.
“I loved the idea of bringing our flatlander extended families into the mountains if they were already flying all the way to Wyoming,” she said. “My ceremony was July 13, 2013, and I’d say that’s about the earliest I’d recommend a wedding up there. Up until about a week before the wedding, there were still road drifts heading up to Little Brooklyn Lake. There are probably drifts up there right now that’ll be gone by next week.”
The morning of the ceremony the weather looked like it wasn’t going to cooperate, with black clouds hanging low over the peak. Haugen’s parents, who were there to set up early, were dealing with hail and rain around 11:30 a.m.
“Our ceremony was at 1 p.m., and by then it was sunny and blue skies opened up,” she said. “It was picture perfect, but I was mentally preparing to be soaked the whole time.”
Haugen said it was a dream wedding. The wooden benches were just enough for her 85 guests. And a harpist set up under the cover of the chapel, something that had always been on her wish list since she was a little girl.
“The ceremony was just beautiful, and the wildflowers were popping,” she said. “We still go visit St. Alban’s each summer around our anniversary, now with our two kiddos.”
Created As A Memorial
St. Alban’s Chapel was built in 1940 as a memorial to Lutie Stone by her son, Dr. Ferdinand Fairfax Stone, according to an informational pamphlet from St. Matthew’s. It was consecrated in 1941 in dedication to St. Alban.
The chapel’s name harkens back across the Atlantic to the grand Anglican St. Alban’s Cathedral in Hertfordshire, England, and is named after the country’s first Christian martyr of 304 A.D.
The authentic log structure of the open-air chapel reflects the skill involved in its hand-hewn log construction. This traditional Scandinavian craftsmanship was commonly used by work crews for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps of the Great Depression.
The chapel’s log walls shelter the simple, hand-hewn lodgepole cross within the open window. The altar beneath the cross reflects the CCC skill of stone masonry, using the variegated hues of granite up on The Ridge — bold rose, delicate pinks, turquoise and crystal white, literally bringing the mountain to the altar.
The granite rocks of the altar have an inscription referring to Psalm 121, “I will lift mine eyes up unto the hills.”
The congregation of St. Matthew’s Cathedral gathers at the spot every summer from July through August for worship and invites others to, “Come experience peace and God’s blessings at this quiet, mountain chapel on the Brooklyn Lake Road.”
Peaceful, Beautiful Place
When David Vernon proposed to his wife in 1988 using the scoreboard at the University of Wyoming, they considered the chapel as a potential wedding location.
“We had both spent time in the Snowies and really like St. Alban’s as a location,” he said. “But our wedding was scheduled for Memorial Day weekend in 1988, and we were actually worried about snow still being up there and having to drag my grandparents through that, so we got married at Ivinson Mansion instead.”
However, St. Alban’s and Little Brooklyn Lake have always been beloved by the couple, and when they were last up there in July 2017 on a visit from their home in Illinois, the wildflowers were in full bloom.
“It was beautiful, but sadly we were surprised by how much pine beetle damage there was and how the trees were just so barren,” Vernon said. “It’s still a lovely place with a lovely view, and we miss the Snowies so much to this day. We’ll be back in southeastern Wyoming in September, and if we get up to the Snowies, we’ll definitely pay another visit to the little chapel on the hill.”
A few years ago Rose Brackett was also looking at possible wedding venues, and St. Alban’s was on her list. So she made a trip up in July 2022 and took a few photographs, which she shared on the Wyoming Through the Lens Facebook page.
“My then-fiancée and I had just gotten engaged, and I had been looking for unique wedding venues in the area, and I’d heard about that place, but I’d never been there, so I wanted to go and see what it was like in person,” she said.
She thought the location was perfect for a small ceremony with a rustic, Wyoming vibe. And while the couple didn’t end up getting married at the chapel because they decided to have the ceremony in October, she enjoyed being there so much she made a return trip later with her sister.
“It’s just a peaceful site — just the little chapel, then the wildflowers and down a little bit further there’s a lake,” she said. “It’s off the beaten path just a little bit. It was just a gorgeous view.”
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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