Stuarts Draft, Virginia

The "HUB" of Augusta County

Located in the Beautiful

Shenandoah Valley of Virginia

Baptist Church - Location at Intersection of High Street and 608 (formally Main St. now Draft Ave.)

The Church first existed as a mission of Laurel Hill.  The little church in the village of Stuarts Draft was organized October 1, 1894 with 27 members, two other members absent at the organization of the church, were considered charter members, making the total 29. Carpenters Edmund F. Coffey and Joseph McCray, Accompanied by a team of hurses and a scoop, carved out a place on the little hillside on Main Street (Draft Ave. now) opposite High Street. There they laid the foundation for the little weatherboard chapel that would serve as  home to the Stuarts Draft Baptist congregation for the next 67 years.

The little chapel had no baptistry so all baptisms were performed in the South River, winter and summer.  It was not unusual for candidates to be baptized while ice formed at the river banks. Reverend Roland Powell still performed river baptisms as late as 1959.