Garber's Church
Oldest Continuously Used Brethren Meetinghouse
in Virginia
The Cooks Creek Church of the Brethren
congregation, whose first church building location was Garber's Church,
is the "mother church" of Bridgewater Church of the Brethren. Garber's
Church is located at the intersection of Garber's Church Road and Erickson
Avenue in Harrisonburg. The date of the earliest services by the
Brethren in the Dayton-Bridgewater area are not known, but they evidently
go back to about the time when Rev. Daniel Garber, son of Elder John Garber
of Flat Rock congregation, moved into the Dayton area in 1790. His brother-in-law,
John Wampler, also came about that time. They lived not far apart with
their lands being drained into the North Fork of Cooks Creek which flowed
southward through Dayton,continuing a mile distant and northeast of Bridgewater
and Mt. Crawford and on into the North River. Over the years many Brethren
farmers lived on the rich farmlands drained by this stream. (Text
from History of Bridgewater Church of the
Brethren by Emmert Bittinger)
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Working together, the Garber,
Wampler, Miller, Bowman and other families built up a prosperous body
of worshipping Brethren called the Cooks Creek congregation. Mostly,
they worshipped in the homes of their members from Sunday to Sunday, choosing
locations centered in the vicinities around Dayton, Bridgewater, Beaver
Creek. In this way travel distances were minimized. By 1822
the congregation had grown to such an extent that Garber's church was built
near Dayton, the oldest continuously used meetinghouse of the Brethren
in Virginia.
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In 1880, Cooks Creek had 300 members, mostly adults. Child baptism was uncommon and often persons waited until marriage before joining). There were five regular meeting places with seven ministers, Bishop Solomon Garber, John Flory, John A. Miller, S. F. Sanger, Peter S. Miller (all of the above with Bridgewater addresses), and Jacob Hedrick and Joseph M. Kagey, both with Dayton addresses. The known branches of the mother church in 1900 were: Garbers, Dayton, Bridgewater, Pleasant Run, Hinton Grove, Cedar Grove (Brandywine, WV), Smith Creek (W. Va.) and North Fork (W. Va.).
Credits: Naomi West and Emmert Bittinger served as models for
these photos. Photos were taken by David Lineweaver, photo editing
was done by Greg Owen. Text contains excerpts by Emmert Bittinger (from
History
of Bridgewater Church of the Brethren).
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from the Past |
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