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. The present structure was originally two separate buildings joined by a breezeway. The church school building (built by the church) and the sanctuary (built by the college) were constructed simultaneously in 1955. At that time the sanctuary was primarily for college chapel and the [...]
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). This method of providing shelter may have originated with the Native Americans. The name of the original church group was Shiloh. When Shiloh moved from the brush harbor near the graveyard, members of Union Baptist Church left Shiloh and [...]
The first record of Episcopal services in Ashland came from the Diocesan Convention Journal in 1859. The Rev. John Points held services monthly, with eight or nine communicants present. At that time, Ashland was a small village where residents of Richmond spent their summers. Sometime during the summer of 1865, a congregational meeting was held and a vestry was elected, the first steps toward forming an independent congregation. The name for the parish, St. James [...]
Prior to the War Between the States, there was a small number of Presbyterians living in Ashland who worshipped at the Union Church, which occupied the lower floor of the Masonic Building on England Street. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians and Episcopalians all worshipped together and alternated in supplying the pulpit. In 1871 the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians were holding church services together and conducting a union Sunday school. The leader of the Sunday school was a [...]
In the mid-1880s a group of seven people felt called to build a Disciples of Christ Church in Ashland. The seven people who stepped out in faith were Dr. and Mrs. Callom Bohannan Jones, Mrs. Indiana W. Carpenter, Miss Josephine T. Wingfield, Mrs. Nannie Cross Delarue, Miss Sallie C. Tinsley and Mr. James W. Taylor. The church grew from the original seven to 18 or 20 by November 11, 1887. In January 1887, the general [...]
On August 20, 1858, Ashland Baptist Church was organized by 15 members who came from nearby Winn's, Taylorsville and Walnut Grove Baptist churches. That first meeting was held in the Union Meeting House (currently the Masonic Hall) on England Street and served as the worship center until the dedication of the new church on Railroad Avenue (now the Hanover Arts and Activities Center) in September 1859. During the Civil War, the church was used as [...]
In 1872 the Catholic Bishop James Gibbons of Richmond purchased a former schoolhouse at 705 S. Railroad Avenue, naming it St. Augustine’s Chapel. Before that, Ashland Catholics usually took the Accommodation Train to Richmond for mass at St. Peter's. Occasionally a visiting priest would celebrate mass for them in the homes of Henry and Caroline Scott, or Louis and Adele Delarue, or others. In 1892 a new church was built at the corner [...]
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. The early members of Shiloh Baptist Church understood this and early on prepared a place for eternal rest. The Shiloh Cemetery is located west of Ashland on Hanover Avenue. The land, which was purchased from Elizabeth Hogg, sometimes [...]
The origins of Woodland Cemetery go back to the Civil War. Many wounded or sick soldiers were housed in large homes or churches in the area. Beginning in 1862, the large number of deaths presented a problem because Ashland had no cemetery. Citizens and some officers purchased land just west of town to inter the soldiers' remains. Four hundred Confederates were buried there. The area became overgrown with briars and weeds because no one was [...]
When slavery ended, African Americans across the South began to define freedom for themselves. Generally, they looked for a way to earn a living, a way to educate themselves and their children and, most importantly, they sought the opportunity to worship God in a way that acknowledged their cultural and spiritual values. The hardworking African American men and women in Ashland who founded Shiloh Baptist Church, known alternately as Shiloh Freedman's Church and [...]
Historic photo of Ashland Baptist Church at 500 S. Railroad Ave. Date unknown. 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. On the day the building was dedicated, there were so many people who showed [...]