2026-04-28T23:45:03-04:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://shenandoahstories.org/ Shenandoah Stories https://shenandoahstories.org 2019-04-16T11:15:04-04:00 2019-04-16T11:15:04-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/320 The Shenandoah Stories Team St. James Lutheran Church in Zepp dates to around 1822 when W.G. Keil, a ministerial student, began conducting services in local homes. By September of 1822 he had established a church with 30 confirmed members. The first church building was constructed soon after this. It was a log structure located directly across from the current St. James and was originally called either Mt. Pleasant Church or the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cedar Creek. Services were held here from late spring till early winter since members had to ford Cedar Creek to attend services. In 1841 the congregation moved its meeting place to the nearby Lochmiller meeting house. Work on the current St. James Church began in 1884 and the building was dedicated in 1885. The Rev. William Jacob Smith became the first regular minister assigned to the church that year. He served the Gravel Springs Parish which consisted of St. James, Gravel Springs, and St. Johns Lutheran Church until his death in 1911. Regular weekly attendance averaged between 20 and 40 members during this period. In 1989 declining membership led St. James to be designated a chapel meaning regular worship services would no longer be held at the site and a pastor would not be assigned to the church. At the time an average of 12-16 members regularly attended service and members of the Lineweaver family were the primary church supporters. Despite this re-designation a regular homecoming, started in 1950, is still held at the church every July. For more (including 2 images), view the original article. 2018-02-28T12:47:21-05:00 2025-01-21T14:35:34-05:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/302 The Shenandoah Stories Team Sometime after the Civil War Mt. Jackson's African American population banded together to form a Methodist Church. During the period local churches were segregated by race and the town’s African Americans needed a church to meet their spiritual needs. By 1870 this congregation had constructed a church building on Race Street. They performed baptisms in nearby Mill Creek and supported the local African American School (located on Orkney Drive). Around 1885 the congregation seems to have relocated to a new site beside the African American School. However, in 1889 the church seems to have faced financial trouble and was involved in a chancery case over an unpaid mortgage. While it is uncertain how the case was resolved, the church remained open. The name of this church seems to have evolved. In a 1930 Sanborn map, the church is identified as “Mt. Zion M.E. Church (Colored).” Later articles refer to it as Calvary Methodist Church. After the Second World War the congregation dwindled as the African American population of Mt. Jackson declined. In 1965 the congregation made the decision to merge with Manor Memorial Methodist Church in New Market and to close their church after failed attempts to merge with the Mt. Jackson Methodist Church. The building would be demolished sometime in the 1970s or 1980s. For more (including 3 images), view the original article. 2018-02-28T12:33:01-05:00 2018-10-19T11:46:22-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/301 The Shenandoah Stories Team In June 1913 Reverend Nickens, a Baptist minister and native of Strasburg, preached a service in that town. His actions must have inspired local African American's of the Baptist faith for just over a month later they began raising money to build a church building. On October 19, 1913 the cornerstone of what would be known as Esbie Baptist Church was laid. The church would be completed later that year. Esbie would become a major part of Strasburg's African American community. Its congregation is known for its strong outreach and community programs that reach beyond the confines of the church and of race. The small white church is still an active place on Sunday mornings. For more (including 2 images), view the original article. 2018-02-20T11:03:27-05:00 2025-02-17T13:44:40-05:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/300 The Shenandoah Stories Team First Baptist Church was founded in Mt. Jackson in 1912. Few records exist describing the church or its activities. The church celebrated its 26th anniversary on September 18, 1938 with a dinner and special service according to a September 16, 1938 Northern Virginia Daily article. One major part of the church was the Scott family, particularly Preston Scott Sr., a prominent African American resident of Woodstock, was its last trustee. We do know the church closed sometime between 1952 when the church a "Men and Women's Day" and 1954 when the neighboring Methodist Church was listed as the only "colored church" in Mt. Jackson. The building was sold in 1965 and still stands on Orkney Drive. For more (including 4 images), view the original article. 2018-02-15T10:27:16-05:00 2018-12-18T12:11:53-05:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/299 The Shenandoah Stories Team In 1868 the African American residents of Strasburg Virginia banded together to found Mt. Zion Methodist Church after being inspired by a series of travelling Methodist Missionaries that visited the town and organized religious meeting. That same year Washington Carter became the congregation's first minister. The congregation was able to acquire land and construct their first church in 1869. Church tradition holds a cabin in the Fishers Hill community was acquired, dismantled, and moved to the church's Queen Street site to serve as a house of worship. This building would remodeled and expanded in 1885, 1907,and 1913. These projects included the construction of a bell tower, finishing of the interior, cladding the building in siding, and additions on the front and rear. Throughout its history Mt. Zion has been an important part of the Strasburg community, especially in the lives of its African American citizens. In a segregated society the church hosted most of the social, educational, and political events reserved for African American residents. These included bush meetings, church rallies, school plays, and Christmas programs. It also sponsored sports teams and helped fund the local segregated school. Today Mt. Zion remains an active congregation that is part of the United Methodist Church's Shenandoah Valley charge that includes Woodstock and Strasburg's historically black churches. It also maintains the adjourning Mt. Zion Methodist Church Cemetery which dates to around 1901 and is the community's historically black cemetery. For more (including 2 images), view the original article. 2018-02-08T10:36:40-05:00 2018-10-19T11:46:22-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/297 Shenandoah County Library Sometime in 1873 the African American residents of New Market Virginia were able to dedicate a new Methodist Church for them to worship in. Records indicate that this congregation had been founded sometime in the late 1860s, most likely by travelling African American ministers that visited the area to work with recently freed slaves and local black communities. They would have met in various public buildings reserved for African Americans, including the segregated school, before constructing their own church. Asbury Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, as it became known, was the center of much of the town’s local African American community for many years. The congregation’s annual Christmas Program, held in the Rouss Opera House, was its premiere event and attracted large crowds from both the white and black population. This program helped the church raise enough money to pay its minister for the upcoming year since the congregation was not large enough, or wealthy enough, to support itself. Little else is known about this church. An April 15, 1954 article in the Shenandoah Valley newspaper gives one of the few descriptions of it and its congregation. The story focused on a horse that regularly attended the church by sticking his head through the church window while in his next door pasture. The paper mentioned “there are only 38 Negroes in New Market, counting men, women, and children” and most attended Asbury which was the only church for African Americans in town. The article also observed: • Royal Steptoe, New Market’s barber, was the church’s trustee and Sunday School superintendent • The Reverend W.E. Jefferson was the church’s minister. He also led services at the historically black Woodstock, Mt. Jackson, and New Market Methodist Churches. Asbury Methodist Church would continue to hold services until 1965. By that time the congregation had become so small it was unable to remain in operation. Around March of that year it, and Calvary Methodist Church in Mt. Jackson, merged with Manor Memorial Methodist Church in New Market whose church newsletter boasted became an “all inclusive church.” Asbury’s building was sold soon afterwards. It served as a residence and a storage structure. In the 1980s it was abandoned and it was demolished in 1992. For more (including 7 images), view the original article. 2018-02-02T12:51:24-05:00 2018-10-19T11:46:22-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/296 The Shenandoah Stories Team This structure housed the Zion Baptist Church for the first half of the 20th century. The property was home to a school for local African American students in 1868. This institution was sponsored by the American Missionary Association that hired Jessie Robinson of Harper’s Ferry to be the school’s first teacher. Records indicate 30 students attended classes here that year. In 1870 the public school system was established and Shenandoah County assumed responsibility for the school and a new building was built on the northern end of town. When Zion Baptist Church moved to the site is a mystery. The 1878 Gray’s Atlas of New Market shows a building on this lot but does not indicate it was used as a church. Ten years later the 1885 Lake’s Atlas shows that Zion Baptist Church was operating there. The church also appears on the 1923 and 1930 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the town which showed it had stove heat and gas lights, despite the fact the town had been electrified several decades prior. A 1954 article on the town's historically black Asbury Memorial Methodist Church lists it as the only church for African Americans in town, indicating Zion had closed sometime before that. Nothing else is known. Today the building is home to an office. For more (including 4 images), view the original article. 2017-10-20T13:17:00-04:00 2018-10-19T11:46:22-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/289 Shenandoah County Library Grace United Church of Christ dates its history to the foundation to around 1760 when a church was built at Rudes’ Hill. This building housed a Lutheran and Reformed Congregation. These groups moved to the area of Middle Road in 1783 when they combined with Pine Church. At that time the Reformed Congregation became a part of the Mill Creek Charge which included 7 Reformed congregations in Shenandoah and Rockingham Counties. The Reformed congregation began work on its own church building in 1874 after ending its union agreement with the Lutheran congregation of Pine Church. Levi Rinker donated the land for a church, cemetery, and parsonage. The church building would be dedicated on August 29 1875 and the name Grace was officially adopted. This sanctuary’s design provided separate entrances and seating areas for men and women, a feature that was customary at the time period. In 1915 the Chapel School House was donated to the church by Sally Hepner and moved to the church’s “hitching grounds.” The structure housed the church’s Sunday School, its social hall, and kitchen. It was also used by the local 4-H Club, the Grange, and the Farmer’s Exchange. When he arrived in 1921 Rev. William T. Brundick reported Grace lacked an altar, pulpit, furnace, and a proper coat of paint. After negotiating with the congregation who resisted his efforts to alter the church, some members apparently feared a furnace would “blow up the Church,” he was able to make changes. A furnace, alcove, new pews, communion table, electric lights, and pulpit were added. Additional changes occurred in the 1950s and 60s. Grace became Grace United Church of Christ when the Reformed Church and Congregational Christian Church merged in 1957. A new educational building was constructed to replace the school building in 1962. The new wing contains six classrooms, a library, and Pastor’s Study. For more (including 4 images), view the original article. 2017-10-03T12:31:31-04:00 2018-10-19T11:46:22-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/238 The Shenandoah Stories Team On May 27, 1877 this church was dedicated by the local Christian (Disciples of Christ) congregation. Locally it was known as the Campebllite Church in reference to Alexander Campbell who helped found the Disciples of Christ denomination. This congregation would only remain active for a few decades. By 1898 they were no longer operating in this building and it was sold to George W. Minnick who in turned donated it to local Lutherans of the Tennesee Synod. They organized a congregation under Rev. J. Paul Stirewalt in 1898. The building became associated with the nearby Bethel Lutheran Church sometime in the 20th century and services were held on alternate Sundays at these two locations until Salem was closed in 1944 due to declining membership. It was sold to the Bowman family in 1946. While operating as a church for the Christian Denomination, the Salem Church became the headquarters for the Hamburg Temperance Council. The first recorded meeting of that group happened in February of 1882 when 8 members congregated here but did not officially organize. Two years later this local group did organize at a meeting in the church on March 1, 1882. At that time the group officially became the Hamburg Union of the National Temperance Union. Fifty members signed the initial roll and N.B. Painter was elected president. How long this organization continued to operate is unknown. For more, view the original article. 2016-06-07T16:42:30-04:00 2018-10-19T11:46:21-04:00 https://shenandoahstories.org/items/show/110 Shenandoah County Library The congregation St. John’s United Church of Christ was formed on October 6th, 1849 at the Hudson’s Crossroad community. This church, originally aligned with the German Reformed denomination, met in the area’s schoolhouse along with the older Lutheran congregation. During the 1850s conflict between these two churches flared. Members of the Lutheran congregation expressed disaffection over sharing their house of worship with another congregation. Therefore, members of the Reformed Church decided to build their own church. That building was built on land donated by Benjamin Hudson. It was completed in 1852. Approximately 120 people pledged to provide support to the building fund during the dedication service. St. John’s was determined to ensure the moral compass of the community was attune to the church’s standards. During the late 19th century, the church records indicate several individuals were brought before the church consistory on charges on various charges. While the ruling of the church had no legal weight, the social implications of being convicted meant the individuals involved were often forced to leave the area. The adjacent Hudsons Crossroads Community Cemetery began as St. John’s Cemetery when the church was founded. Some of the earliest graves here date to the 1850s. A Ladies Aid Society was formed in 1931. It hosted social events for the church and community to raise money for charity. These events were often the center of community life. They often worked alongside their sister organization at the Lutheran Church. As the 21st century dawned, the members of St. John’s realized they could no longer support a church due to dwindling membership. So they decided to close and the building was donated to the Lutheran Congregation who today rents it to the Crossroads Bible Baptist Church, a nondenominational congregation. For more (including 3 images), view the original article.