Saturday, October 17, 2009

Area Churches



METHODIST
As early as 1784, two Methodist preachers arrived in Beans Cove, they were Rev. Thomas Leakins and Rev. John Leasure. Their small congregation gathered in a log church at the foot of the mountain. In 1816 another Methodist church was built on that site.

Then in 1838 Rev. Thomas Leakins traveled over the mountain to Chaneysville to preach at the home of Joseph Powell. As the congregation grew it began to gather in the Adams schoolhouse until 1860 when the Methodist Church on the hill overlooking Chaneysville was built.


East View Cemetery
The building committee of the Methodist Church were: Barnard O'Neal, Jared Hanks, and Jason Hanks. This new church was organized with nine members, and it belonged to the Cumberland MD. circuit. Jason Hanks, Nathan Evans and Owen Ash were the first trustees. This church is no longer in the Methodist Conference, today it is the Chaneysville Community Church.

MOUNT ZION CHRISTIAN

Church was first held in the Buxton Meeting House, then in 1824 Elder Lewis Comer organized the Christian Church, where the Rev. B.A. Cooper preached.



BUXTON MEETING HOUSE/School.




PROSPERITY CHRISTIAN

The original church, organized by Elder John Ramsey in 1843 stands about 1 mile south of the Prosperity Church that is being used today. This newer church which stands at the foot of the Warrior Path on Route 326 was built in 1940.



MOUNT HOPE CHRISTIAN

This church was built in 1845, you can look in the windows and see how the church was divided in half, the women and men used separate doors and the center pew is divided in half with a wooden railing to them separated, there is also a potbelly stove in the center of the room.




ASSEMBLY OF GOD

When Rev. Walter Long brought his traveling revival to town, he stirred up the people so much that within that year of 1921 a church was built. Some people in Chaneysville didn't like this new religion, and although arson was never proven the church burned down. Another church was built on land donated by Hezekiah Walters, where it remains today.




GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH

In 1948 this once beautiful stone church was slated to be torn down and the stones sold because of the excessive repairs necessary to restore it.



OUR LADY OF THE SEVEN DOLORS IN BEANS COVE
This Catholic Church under the Capuchin order was built on land donated by the Donahoe family in 1878. Before that, because of the many Catholics in the area the Donahoe family set aside a large room in their house for church purposes whenever Father Heyden visited in the early 1800's.





OAK DALE ON FLINTSTONE CREEK
This church just celebrated its 100th birthday. On Jan. 18, 1900 the membership met at Simon Oster's and decided to accept a piece of ground owned by Moses Wigfield to build a church. John B. Wigfield was elected treasurer, and Howard Hendrickson was the secretary. "A resolution was adopted that the building be held in trust by duly appointed trustees for the use and membership of the M.E. Church South, with a provision in the deed that the said building shall not be sold in the event of its failure to be used by membership and ministry of said denomination. Further, in case of its failure to be used, it shall be held as a place of Divine Worship for any Bible Based denomination that shall be acceptable to the community."

BLACK VALLEY VICTORY BAPTIST

This church is the newest one built, but it is no longer in use at this time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although the German Reformed Church has been torn down, the others are still standing. With the exception of Mount Hope and Mount Zion, the others are still in use every Sunday.

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