Our History

CRUMC stained glass window. Includes images of a star, grapes, a bible, wheat, a chalice, a sword and shield, a moon and a dove.

For approximately 175 years, Chestnut Ridge Church has been a vital, living community of believers in Jesus Christ. Our Vision is to be a “Beacon of Love Reaching Out and Growing!” Our Mission is to “Go and Make passionate disciples for Jesus Christ.”

Organized in the early 1830’s, Chestnut Ridge Church has long been affectionately known as “The Ridge.” Included in a 1901 membership roll and treasurer’s record which is referred to as “The Ledger”, is a brief history of Chestnut Ridge Church. This history appears to have been written by Rev. W.A. Bunch and states that the information contained therein is based completely on tradition and no references for the information is mentioned.

Rev. Bunch writes that as early as 1827, Rev. Charles Loveland Cooley had been invited to preach at the Ridge by Mr. Samuel Smith. Rev. Cooley had formerly been an elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church but had been expelled by the Virginia Conference in 1825 because of his reformist views. He then moved to Hillsborough, NC and was received as an elder in the Methodist Protestant Church and was appointed to the Hillsborough Circuit.

At this early gathering a barrel was turned bottom side up and used as the pulpit and people were seated on rocks or whatever they could find. Soon after it is reported that a pulpit was made by putting a board between two chestnut oak trees. When the new pulpit was made, logs were split open and used for seats. The Ledger notes that this is where the name Chestnut or Chestnut Oak originated, the other coming from the fact that the church is located on a ridge.

The original shelter for the meeting place may have been a brush arbor. Prior to 1832 a log meeting house was constructed on the Ridge for Rev. Cooley to preach in. This building was also probably used as a school, as was common in those times.

It was not long before the one room church was outgrown and it was doubled in size. As the church continued to grow, it continued a tradition of camp meetings. These Camp meetings were held probably the end of August with people pitching tents or sleeping in wagons while the preachers used the church as sleeping quarters. These camp meetings would last as long as two weeks. Pine knots were lit and used for lighting at night.

On June 14, 1833 Joseph Thompson sold two acres to the people of the church for the amount of five pounds. Thompson granted the church the use of a spring north of the property for water. The deed to the property reads that the property was sold “in the promotion and advancement of a certain religious society of Christians, known by the name of the Protestant Methodist of which a congregation now worships at the place known as the Ridge Meeting House.” It is of interest that the property was acquired after the meeting house had been constructed.

In the late 1860’s a new building was started at the Ridge and was completed in 1870. Camp Meetings continued to be held in late summer until the closing years of the 19th Century. By then a number of log cabins had been built near the church for families to stay in during the Meetings, with one member traveling back and forth home to care for the farm stock. In 1899 the Ridge had nearly 400 members on roll.

This 1870 building was replaced in 1906 by the church that many of our present members may remember with fondness. This church stood until 1959, when it was replaced by our present brick building. The old 1906 church was a large one room wooden structure with the front facing south. It was hot in the summertime and cold in the winter but was a place of dignity, beauty and grace. The church bell was preserved and has place of honor in front of the present church. Each Sunday and on special occasions, it is rung to summon the faithful to worship.

In 1954 Rev. James Hailey appointed a committee to explore possibilities of building a new church. Under the leadership of Rev. Gayle Alexander, a brick structure was completed in 1959 at a cost of approximately $45,000. The first Worship Service was held in the sanctuary in January of 1960. In further expansion, a large Fellowship Hall was completed in early 1989.

As a member of the Orange Circuit, Chestnut Ridge Church shared a parsonage with other Circuit churches. Parsonages had previously been located at Buckhorn, Efland and near Hebron United Methodist Church. In 1962 Chestnut Ridge was made a station charge and under the guidance of Rev. J. F. Minnis, a new parsonage was built in 1964 next to the present church building.

Chestnut Ridge Church Cemetery has been in use since at least 1839. In 1941, a Memorial Association was formed and is responsible for the upkeep and management of the cemetery. Funding is provided by offerings made during Homecoming and Memorial Day Services and by individual contributions throughout the year. Dedicated members continue to insure that the Cemetery is a place of peace and beauty.

With beginnings as a Reformist Methodist Protestant Society, Chestnut Ridge Church has followed in significant moves toward unity among Methodists. In 1939 the Methodist Protestants, the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church South united to form the Methodist Church. In 1968, the Methodist Church joined with the Evangelical United Brethren Church to begin the United Methodist denomination, which continues today.

Notes: Information obtained from previous Church Histories to include:

  • Rev. Neil Mc David, The Beginnings of Methodism at Chestnut Ridge Church, 1971.
  • Rev. Michael L. Hale, Chestnut Ridge United Methodist Church History, 1975.
  • Rev. Stephen C. Compton, The History of Chestnut Ridge United Methodist Church, 1832-1982.

Compiled 2005 by Dorothy Walker.