Union Church Cemetery

Union Church Cemetery. . , Middleway, founded in the late 1700s, flourished as a trading center for most of the 1800s. About 1820 the Lutherans and German Reformed congregations joined together to build this church. Some years elapsed before the building was erected and finally the Presbyterian agreed to bear one third of the cost. Services were alternated, thus the name Union Church., As the village declined, the Union Church and its cemetery deteriorated. In a more recent act of destruction, vandals smashed tombstones with bats, and knocked others askew. The nearby Grace Episcopal Church, having acquired the forsaken property, stepped in and has restored the size to its former dignity., Captions: , Artist's conception of the church interior when it was an active church. Today the building serves as a church hall for the Episcopalians and the community., A foot-pumped reed organ from the 1830s remains in the building. The "organ pipes" in the painting above were purely decorative., This old photo captures the rustic beauty of Union Church, with the cemetery orphaned and overgrown. The building dates to the 1820s., The earliest graves are located at the far (west) end of the cemetery. Selected family plots are shown on this aerial view., The marker of Elizabeth Showers , broken in two places , has been repaired and straightened. This Grace Church congregation asks that you do not take rubbings or put anything on the tombstones. We recommend using aluminum foil and your hands to make an image, or taking a photograph., Volunteers from Grace Episcopal Church mended stones using fiberglass rods, clamps, and a special cement.