Churches and Schools
Like most small towns, churches of various denominations, cemeteries, and schools are dotted in and around Ashland, Virginia.
Woodland Cemetery
Woodland is currently the final resting place for over 6,000 persons, many of whom called Ashland home for most of their lives.
Ashland Baptist Church
In 1859, a congregation of like-minded community members formed Ashland Baptist Church, and built themselves a small one room church. For 104 years, the building served the community as a church with the exception during the Civil War when it was used as a temporary hospital.
First Baptist Church
On August 20, 1858, Ashland Baptist Church was organized by 15 members who came from nearby Winn’s, Taylorsville and Walnut Grove Baptist churches.
Ashland Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
In the mid-1880s a group of seven people felt called to build a Disciples of Christ Church in Ashland.
Ashland Presbyterian Church
In October 1871, East Hanover Presbytery met at Salem Church in the eastern section of Hanover County. At this meeting, a petition was submitted to organize a church in Ashland. The church was organized with 16 members.
Union Baptist Church
The “roots” of Union Baptist Church go back to a worship place called the “brush harbor” (a shelter built out of rough hewn, unprocessed wood, covered over with tree limbs and leaves from the surrounding trees).
Shiloh Baptist Church Cemetery
A “good Christian burial,” one of the benefits of freedom, was very important to African Americans just out of slavery. Indeed, many blacks belonged to burial societies that facilitated their financial preparedness for the inevitability of death.
Shiloh Baptist Church
The hardworking African American men and women in Ashland who founded Shiloh Baptist Church, known alternately as Shiloh Freedman’s Church and Shiloh Church, were committed to developing their spiritual lives as well as providing a school.
Duncan Memorial Methodist Church
The congregation of Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church meets at 201 Henry Street on the corner of Henry Street and College Avenue. The original church was organized in 1853.
Kiddie Kingdom
Kiddie Kingdom was started in September 1968 as an outreach ministry of the Sunday School Department of Ashland Christian Church. Originally a half-day program, it was expanded to provide all-day care in 1969, and became the first licensed childcare facility in Hanover County.
John M. Gandy School
In 1948, Hanover County passed a bond referendum for the construction of a new school for black students. John M. Gandy School, named after a president of Virginia State University, opened for the 1950-51 school year.
St. James the Less Episcopal Church
The name for the parish, St. James the Less, came as a result of the link with St. James in Richmond. The parish’s patron saint was one of Christ’s apostles. The true birth date of the parish is fixed as May 18, 1866.
St. Ann’s Catholic Church
Built on a tiny lot on England Street as St. Ann's Catholic Church in 1892, this building served the growing Roman Catholic population of Ashland for 89 years.