Little church opens doors

Doors will open July 26 to the tiny Macedonia Church in Amherst County, something that happens officially only twice a year.

The church family will celebrate its annual homecoming, beginning with an 11 a.m. service and followed by lunch on the lawn at 1408 Coffeytown Road. The Homecoming String Band will provide the music, and all are invited.

The church — nestled in the mountains near the Staton Creek waterfalls and not far from the borders of Amherst, Nelson and Rockbridge counties — has become a point of interest for sojourners on the nearby Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

“People ride up through there, stop and visit the church, and picnic on the lawn,” said Joe Malloy, a member of the board of the Macedonia Community Association, which owns and cares for the church.

Birdwatchers, mushroom hunters, hikers — “We get ’em all,” he said.

What they see is a simple, one-room white church with Gothic arches and a small bell tower.

Its pews are hand-carved American chestnut, while the interior walls, ceilings and doors are also chestnut, a species threatened with extinction by blight at the beginning of the last century. The floors are wide pine board.

The current building is not the church’s first, though; in 1875, the congregation began meeting in a log structure. In 1896, that building was demolished and a new one was constructed.

At one point, a nearby school educated many of those who grew up in the area.

But times changed, and the area’s population dwindled to the point where the church closed in 1981. In 1990, a group of families formed the association for its upkeep.

The homecoming has become a big draw. People, whose family members were raised in the church, come back, with some even making a weekend of it by camping nearby. Others who attend have heard about the homecoming, and come from Lynchburg, Lexington and other towns.

The homecoming is one of two annual events. The other is a get-together at Christmas.

“We really only open it officially for these two events,” Malloy said, although the community can sign up to use the church for weddings, christenings, funerals, revivals, gospel sings, picnics, reunions and the like.