Highland
Historical Society

Highland County, VA

Est. 1847

Settled ca. 1745

P.O. Box 63

McDowell, VA 24458

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The McDowell Presbyterian Church

During the years of early settlement of Highland County, worship services in the McDowell area were held in homes along the Bullpasture River. On November 2, 1822, 19 people gathered to record the actual beginnings of the McDowell Presbyterian Church with the following words: "The preaching of the gospel, having attended with pleasing success on the Bull pasture River...it appearing desirable that there should be...united together as a Christian Society and formed into a regularly organized church known as the Central Union Church."

Construction started on a two-room log church building near the present church in the village of Sugar Tree Grove. (The town's name was changed to McDowell about 1850.)  In 1856, Robert Sitlington donated the land for the present church building and manse. Construction began at once, with bricks for the building being molded and fired right on the site. The church was finished quickly, and the Manse was completed in 1879.

Located on the busy Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike, the church became an important location during the Civil War. On several occasions, troops were billeted in the church, and at one point, the pews were burned for firewood. The Battle of McDowell on May 8, 1862, raged around the church, which was used as both headquarters and hospital by the troops. Many of the dead of both sides were buried in a mass grave in the cemetery across from the church, where the Daughters of the Confederacy have erected a monument. The church itself bears the scars of a cannonball hit, and soldiers carved names and dates into the bricks on the front and sides of the church.  Many of these inscriptions are still visible today.

In 1870, the church name was changed to The McDowell Presbyterian Church, and it remains much the same in appearance as it did in 1862.  The Narthex side-entrance and balcony are relics of the days of segregation. In 1950, a renovation and building program added Sunday School rooms, a kitchen, and a fellowship hall, and included replacement of the twin wood-burning stoves with electric heating. The Sanctuary has changed only with the addition of new pews and stained glass windows, which have replaced the original clear glass panes. In 1999, the Highland Historical Society erected antique chestnut split-rail fencing around the church.