Weavers Mennonite Church (Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA)
Weavers Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), located 2½ miles west of Harrisonburg, Virginia, on the Rawley Pike in the Middle District of the Virginia Mennonite Conference, was the largest congregation in the conference in the late 1950s. The congregation was first known as the Burkholder church because of the part played by Bishop Peter Burkholder in the early 19th century in building the meetinghouse. Later Samuel Weaver bought and occupied land west of the church. He became its lifelong sexton and in time the church was called Weavers after him. The first meetinghouse, built in 1827, was a small log church covered with weatherboards, which stood broadside to the highway. It was replaced in 1881 and again in 1941, this time on the south side of Rawley Pike, built of native limestone. The first church was used by Union soldiers in the Civil War as a camping place. Cuts or scars made by the spurs worn by the soldiers on the long open pulpit indicated that it was used as a sleeping bunk.
Two schoolhouses have stood on the church grounds; one was built by the Mennonites, the other later by the county.
The first session of the Virginia Conference was held here in 1835. John S. Coffman held the first series of revival meetings in the Virginia Conference at Weavers in 1888.
Since 1900 the Weavers church has served as the center of the Harmonia Sacra singing movement in the Shenandoah Valley; more than fifty annual singings have been held here on New Year's Day.
In 1958 Oliver Keener and Isaac Risser were serving as pastors of the church, with D. W. Lehman as bishop and a membership of 302.
Additional Information
Address: 2501 Rawley Pike, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Phone: 540-434-7758
Web site: Weavers Mennonite Church
| Author(s) | Harry A Brunk |
|---|---|
| Date Published | 1959 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Brunk, Harry A. "Weavers Mennonite Church (Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1959. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Weavers_Mennonite_Church_(Harrisonburg,_Virginia,_USA)&oldid=103415.
APA style
Brunk, Harry A. (1959). Weavers Mennonite Church (Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Weavers_Mennonite_Church_(Harrisonburg,_Virginia,_USA)&oldid=103415.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 905. All rights reserved.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.