On the way to McLeod Ganj from Palampur lies the Church of St. John in the Wilderness on the right side of the road, just 1.5 km before McLeod Ganj. It is surrounded by beautiful pine forest and can be easily missed while driving. This beautiful Gothic church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was built in 1852. It is one of the few remaining traces of McLeod Ganj's colonial days. The church building has Belgian stained-glass windows that add to the aesthetics of the church. There is a memorial of the second British Viceroy of India, Lord Elgin and an old graveyard that has graves of the victims of the 1905 earthquake in the church complex.