Old Stone Presbyterian Church

History Stop

The Old Stone Presbyterian Church is considered to be the oldest church building in continuous use west of the Alleghenies.

The sanctuary was constructed in 1796 from native limestone. Church history notes the women worked with the men of the congregation, riding horseback to the Greenbrier River to fetch bags of sand for the mortar.

Old Stone served as a hospital during the Civil War. After the Battle of Lewisburg in 1862, the sanctuary filled with Confederate dead. The Union commander denied services for them because sniper fire had killed one of his wounded soldiers. The Confederate bodies were left in a trench along the south wall of the church. Those bodies later were reburied with more dignity in the Confederate Cemetery located above the Greenbrier County Library.

Researched and written by Belinda Anderson.