page_title: Old Pine Church
section_title: Cemetery
hierarchical_section_title: Old Pine Church / Cemetery
caption_attribution_description: English: Old Pine Church off Old Pine Church Road (County Route 220/15) south of Purgitsville, West Virginia, United States. English: Old Pine Church off Old Pine Church Road (County Route 220/15) south of Purgitsville, West Virginia, United States.IMG_7806
context_page_description: Old Pine Church, also historically known as Mill Church, Nicholas Church, and Pine Church, is a mid-19th century church located near to Purgitsville, West Virginia, United States. It is among the earliest extant log churches in Hampshire County, along with Capon Chapel and Mount Bethel Church.
  The church was constructed in 1838 to serve as a nondenominational "union church". As many of the Mill Creek valley's earliest settlers were of German descent, Old Pine Church may also have been built as a meeting place for Schwarzenau Brethren adherents, known as "Dunkers" or "Dunkards". The church is believed to have also been a meeting place for German Methodist settlers. By 1870, the church was primarily used by the Brethren denomination, and in 1878, the church's congregation split into White Pine Church of the Brethren and Old Pine Church congregations. Both congregations continued to use the church until 1907.
  Old Pine Church reportedly housed a school in the early 20th century while still serving as a center for worship. In 1968, residents of the Purgitsville community raised the necessary funds to perform a restoration of the church.
context_section_description: Old Pine Church is surrounded on three sides by a cemetery containing approximately 200 interments, the oldest section of which is located to the immediate east and south of the church building. The earliest remaining gravestone dates from 1834, but several unmarked interment sites in the surrounding cemetery may date from as early as 1759. The church's sign along U.S. Route 220 erroneously lists the date of the cemetery's oldest interment sites as 1792.
  The cemetery's headstones are oriented both to the east and to the west. The majority are simple in design, inscribed with birth and death dates, and consist of a combination of rounded, arched stones, rectangular stones, and pyramidal-shaped obelisks that appear to be cut from limestone. In the cemetery's southern section are several small rectangular stones that probably serve as footstones. Beginning around 1950, the gravestones erected in the cemetery became more intricate with polished granite surfaces lying atop rough-cut stone foundations.
  Old Pine Church's cemetery is surrounded by several mature trees, with a large oak tree overhanging the southwestern area of the cemetery. Outside of the National Register of Historic Places boundary to the northwest of Old Pine Church lies a second parcel of land acquired around 1950 for additional burials. The cemetery is enclosed by a chicken wire fence supported by wooden posts, with a large gate to the north of the church which allows machinery access into the cemetery.
caption: The southwestern area of the cemetery adjoining Old Pine Church. The large oak tree overhanging the cemetery is located to the right.
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