Pisgah Community Methodist

About 1858 William Henderson French gave land for three churches in the area to be built. One of these churches was Pisgah Methodist Church.  Sarah Holroyd, wife of William Holroyd, is credited with naming the church Pisgah Methodist Church.  

Thomas Pritchard, an Englishman who immigrated to the area, built the original church of hewn logs and a roof of wooden shingles.

By the 1870’s  the congregation was beginning to outgrow the original church. On June 1, 1886, Joseph and Rosa Stanford, deeded to trustees of the Pisgah Methodist Church five acres of land on which to build a new church. Thomas Gooch, William Johnston and John S. Carr were instrumental in securing the land where the new building, which is still being used as a church, was built. Many improvements have been added over the years and in 1974 an annex containing a kitchen, fellowship hall, overflow room and Sunday school room was added.

The Pisgah United Methodist Church congregation formerly located at 1217 Pisgah Road, close to Athens, relocated to 115 Barker Street, Princeton, West Virginia. The Pisgah Community Church is now occupying the church building at 1217 Pisgah Road.

In 2009, Member David Brown found that the closest playground for the children in the Pisgah area to use was the one at the Melrose Elementary School and it was only open when school was in session.

Mr. Brown was led to approach the members of the newly formed Pisgah Community Church to ask that they consider building a playground on the lot beside the church. The church had planned to build a parsonage on the lot.

After approval of the church board, the land was deeded over to the newly formed Pisgah Community Playground Association to build a community playground. The playground has something for all age groups including basketball courts, a volleyball court, a swing for smaller children, and a larger swing set which had the only wheelchair swing in the county at that time. The Playground Association has plans to make the volleyball court into a beach volleyball court and to add a fitness trail for the adults.  People can also use the shelter for birthday parties, etc. When asked who could use the playground, Mr. Brown responded, “anybody.”

Some of the above information was based on the work of Matt Christian, who wrote about Pisgah Methodist Church in the  "Princeton Times," June 24, 2011.

Note: This church is located at 1217 Pisgah Road, near Athens. Although listed as a Methodist Church, it may now be non-demoninational. Any site visitor who knows the history of the church, and might provide a description and additional photographs, may contact us here.