Pine Grove Chapel

Pine Grove Chapel was occupied by the Northern army as a barracks for troops guarding the railroad.

Pine Grove Chapel (formerly Ridge Presbyterian Church) was founded in 1846 on land donated by Henry and Eliza Bussard, one of the first families in Mount Airy. The church was constructed by slaves owned by Bussard and two other men. It offered not only church services but also a private school, located in the basement, to the Mount Airy community. Both services were halted during the Civil War when the Northern army took control of the church as a barracks for Company K of the 14^th New Jersey Infantry. Company K guarded both the B & O Railroad, a major link in the North’s supply chain, as well as the crossroads in Ridgeville (now incorporated into modern-day Mount Airy). While the officers and men slept on pews in the church building, a mess tent was erected behind the church, in what is now the cemetery. Reportedly, “a sick and delirious soldier who wandered into Ridgeville and died” was the first person to be buried behind the church. Following the war, the church resumed services, though the basement school was then public.