Category: God

day of rest

church and cemetery
Antioch is the oldest African-American church in Middlesex County and has been a beacon of leadership in the county for 158 years. It is also a part of the Saluda Historic District.–House and Home

John 1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

Day of Rest

Located in southeastern Fauquier County, the Casanova Historic District is a small cluster of remarkably intact late 19th- and early 20th-century buildings, including a rare steam-powered mill, a late 19th-century schoolhouse, a tiny post office, a parish house and a rectory, and some commercial buildings and residences. Casanova began its life in the mid-19th century as “Three Mile Station” or “Three Mile Switch,” signifying its location exactly three miles along the newly laid Warrenton Branch Railroad, a spur of the old Orange and Alexandria Railroad. It became known as Melrose Station, named for a nearby plantation, Melrose Castle, but was renamed Casanova in the late 19th century to avoid confusion with a Melrose community in Rockingham County. The new name honored Juan Casanova, who married into the Murray family, the original owners of Melrose. With commercial, industrial, institutional, and fine residential structures dating from 1879 to 1920, Casanova today presents a rare image of a small community virtually untouched by modern intrusions. The Casanova Historic District’s earliest surviving architectural resource dates to 1879; unfortunately, the train station and all other rail-related buildings are gone.–VADHR

day of rest

Historical Background
Many of the churches of Allegheny were constructed around the late 19th and early 20th
century when access to sawmills encouraged a boom of church building. The earliest
surviving church building is the 1870 Piney Creek Baptist Church. Baptists and
Methodist churches dominate the landscape.” Typically these turn of the century
churches are plain, front-gabled, rectangular structures clad in weatherboard. Many of
the churches have projecting vestibules. Baptist Churches are more plain that Methodist.
The Antioch Methodist Church in Roaring Gap is one of a few churches with steeples.
Two churches stand out as more elaborate than most: Mt. Carmel Baptist Church and
Glade Valley Presbyterian. With their Gothic-influenced windows and bell towers, these
two churches stand out.
The Antioch Methodist Church in Roaring Gap was established on this site in 1850.
Among the early church leaders was the Reverend Morgan Bryant, renowned preacher in
Western North Carolina, and Reverend Thomas Smith. By 1880 the congregation had
diminished and the original log structure was in a state of disrepair. About 1895 the men
of the community led by John Simmons and his brother Thomas built the wood frame
church that stands today.32
The cemetery serves as the final resting-place for the first settlers of Alleghany County,
Absolom and Agnes Smith, who came to the area between 1770 and 1775. The Smiths
eloped to this area from Norfolk, Virginia, where Absolom was indentured to a wealthy
landowner. When Absolom fell in love with the landowner’s daughter, Agnes, the two
fled to North Carolina where Virginia laws had no jurisdiction.–NCDOT