Mauck's Meeting House

The plain log structure was built around 1770, on land on Mill Creek in Hamburg on land owned by Daniel Mauck.  The Mauck’s Meeting House congregation was organized about 1772 and consisted of both Mennonites and Baptists.

The earliest mention of the building was recorded in 1798.  It was, as the deed says, “Built by the neighbors for religious purposes, commonly called and known as Mauck’s Meeting House.”  The “neighbors” were mostly Mennonites from Switzerland and Southern Germany, coming to America to practice their religion in peace.  Most played an influential role in the early society of the Shenandoah Valley.

It was constructed of large pine logs neatly dovetailed at the corners, whitewashed inside and out, and roofed with chestnut shingles which was typical of most local construction at that time.  The balconies were built inside, the outside covered with beaded weather boards, a central chimney built, and a tin roof put on later.  The pews are benches with pine board seats and back rests.  The pulpit is a simple square box on a raised platform.  The building was heated in the winter by a large six plate stove made at the local iron furnace and inscribed “D Pennabacker 1799”.

In 1807 Mauck’s son Joseph deeded the property to the “Sundry persons . . . friends of religion and good order” who had been using it.

The early Mennonite ministers in the area were – John Roads (Rhodes), Martin Kauffman, David Kauffman, Michael Kauffman, Jacob Strickler, and Abraham Heiston.  The Mennonites eventually quit the area, leaving the Baptists in control.

The first Baptist church in Virginia was established in 1760 and because of their evangelical efforts Baptist congregations soon appeared throughout western Virginia.  The local Mennonites, John Koontz, and Martin Kauffman II became adherence of the Baptist faith although the change of principles or doctrine.  So great was the effects of the Baptist preaching that the Mennonite Church of Pennsylvania became alarmed and sent of evangelical minister in the person of Peter Blosser to the South Shenandoah to counter the efforts of the Baptist.  The turmoil in the church caused several of the members to move to Licking and Fairfield County, Ohio, between 1801 and 1809 and establish the Pleasant Run Church there.

The existing minutes of the Baptist meetings held at Mauck’s Meeting House begin in 1798.  There were several Baptist churches in the area at that time; the minutes show meetings held at Big Spring Meeting House, the Hawksbill Meeting House (located near Mundlesville), at the Mill Creek Meeting House and occasionally in the homes of the members.

At a meeting held at Big Spring in 1809 this order was entered in the minutes – “By the request of the members living about the Mill Creek Meeting House we agree to give them full privilege to act in a church capacity as we have been at Big Spring.”

The first minutes at a church meeting held at Mill Creek Meeting House March 15, 1809 read – “After Divine service proceeded to business, Brother Isaac Strickler chosen clerk of the meeting house, Elder John Koontz chosen moderator, and after having obtained liberty to keep a book and do our own business in the future it is agreed that we shall be named a branch of Mill Creek Church.”

From 1809 to 1860 several enslaved African Americans were members of the congregation and several designated in the minutes as a “free men of color”.  During this time, the minutes refer to construction of a chimney, fencing the church lot, and repairing the windows and roof.

In 1863 and 1864 during the war, the minutes on several occasions read – “We were prevented from holding our regular meeting last month by reason of the Yankees occupying the church house”.

The Baptist met at Mauck’s Meeting House usually only once a month until 1889, in later years holding services on both Saturday and Sunday.

In 1889 they built a new brick church and left the old Meeting House to be used occasionally by the Methodists and others.  In the early 1900’s a Sunday school was started, and preaching was held about once a month for 15 or 18 years.  After the Sunday school closed Isaac N. Coffman and Benton C. Strickler started a hymn sing on the first Sunday in August with help from the Mennonites in Rockingham and Shenandoah Counties.  This gathering, active to the present time, is known as the Harmonia Sacra Sing, taking its name from the hymn book printed by Joseph Funk in 1832, which is used in the singing.

Mauck’s Meeting House was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register on December 16, 1975.  And on the National Register of Historic Places on June 18, 1976 (reference number 76002116).  The revered landmark is maintained today as a historic shrine and meeting place by the Page County Heritage Association.