At what date the present "Augusta stone church" was built is not known. It was some time between 1740 and 1755, and according to tradition, men, women and children labored at the erection, transporting sand from Middle river on horseback, and timber and stone in like manner. The current belief is, that the building was completed in 1748. The original log meeting-house stood in the old burying ground.
In the year 1746, the Rev. John Blair,[1] a New Side minister from the north, visited the county and organized four Presbyterian congregations—Forks of James, Timber Ridge, New Providence, and North Mountain. The first named afterwards became Hall's meeting-house, then New Monmouth, and finally Lexington. North Mountain meeting-house was a little to the right of the road leading from Staunton to Middlebrook, about nine miles from the former, and on land now [1886] owned by Charles T. Palmer. No trace of the former use of the spot remains at this day, except the old burying ground, "where the forefathers of the hamlet sleep." There repose many Moffetts, Tates, Trimbles and others. North Mountain congregation never had a separate pastor, but depended during most of its existence on "supplies," and the labors of neighboring ministers. The Rev. Charles Cummings was pastor at Brown's meeting-house [Hebron] from 1767 till 1773; and the Rev. Archibald Scott, a native of Scotland, was pastor of Brown's meeting-house and North Mountain congregations from 1778 to about 1798. After the organization of Bethel congregation, through the influence of Colonel Doak, North Mountain was abandoned, the worshippers dividing between Bethel and Hebron.
Mr. Blair also visited the Big Calf Pasture in 1746. This beautiful Valley was occupied by emigrants, and the congregation of Rocky Spring was organized, in a short time after the first settlement of the county.
- ↑ The Rev. John Blair, a native of Ireland, while living in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, made two visits to Virginia, the last in 1746. He officiated for a time as Vice-President of Princeton College, and died in Orange county, New York, in 1771. He was the father of the Rev. John D. Blair, the first Presbyterian minister in Richmond, Virginia. Another son, William Lawrence Blair, became a lawyer and settled in Kentucky.
