Churches and Schools
Like most small towns, churches of various denominations, cemeteries, and schools are dotted in and around Ashland, Virginia.
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.
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.