Old Pine Church

Old Pine Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Front of the church
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Location	Old Pine Church Road (West Virginia Secondary Route 220/15) Purgitsville, West Virginia, United States
Coordinates	39°12′55″N 78°55′33″W / 39.21528°N 78.92583°W / 39.21528; -78.92583
Area	2.3 acres (0.93 hectares)
Built	1838
Architectural style	Front gable
NRHP reference No.	12001049[1]
Designated	December 12, 2012[1]

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. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 2012, due to its "significant settlement-era rural religious architecture in the Potomac Highlands."^[2]

The church is a large, one-story, gablefront log building sheathed in brown-painted wooden German siding. The original hewn log beams are visible beneath the church, with some bark remaining on the logs. The church's interior ceiling measures approximately 15 feet (4.6 metres) in height and is clad in pressed metal panels. Several of its pews date from 1857. In the church's adjoining cemetery, the earliest extant gravestone dates from 1834, and several unmarked interment sites may exist from as early as 1759. According to architectural historian Sandra Scaffidi, "Old Pine Church and cemetery is an excellent example of one of the area's early rural church complexes."^[3]