Union Forge Church

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In 1815 Augustine Hollar deed land for the Union Forge Church and cemetery near Edinburg Virginia. This congregation, associated with the Methodist Denomination, drew most of its membership from the workers at the nearby iron furnaces. They regularly held “Big Meetings,” also called revivals, to increase the number of attendees and to preach the gospel to influxes of immigrants who came to the area as laborers.

Around 1848 the original Union Forge Church burned. A new church was completed that year and is still standing. In 1925 the building was dramatically altered when a renovation, financed by J.C. Campbell. This project saw the addition of a belfry which arrived in Edinburg via the railroad. It then travelled to the church aboard wagons. Overall, this projected shifted the character of the church from the primitive, back country meeting house of the early 19th century to a more classically defined church that was popular in the early 20th century.

In the 1980s money provided by the Dirting family, financed the construction of a new Union Forge Methodist Church across the street from the historic building which was from then on used only for special occasions.