Vanishing Village & Rural Churches

The two churches shown above are indicative of the fate of many former village and rural churches that existed in Monroe County, when there were between fifteen and twenty more of them than there now are.

In the upper photo is shown part of the front of the former Catholic Church at Stoutsville, where for fifty years people gathered to worship in the hand cut stone building. It is now privately owned and used as hay storage. On its front door is a sign “Keep Out”.

The lower photo shows the belfry and upper part of the former Primitive Baptist Church at Stoutsville, long abandoned and now, as can be seen, being taken over by trees and underbrush. The bell long ago disappeared and the building is in poor repair.

Elsewhere in Monroe County, many of the former places of worship have been torn down, others are no longer in use.

One of the most extraordinary church fronts a few years back was that of the Primitive Baptist Church at Stoutsville. It had been abandoned for years as a house of worship and was being used as a storage room for dynamite. On the front of the building appeared the name of the church and beneath it these words, “Explosive, Keep Out.”

The present owners of the former Catholic Church at Stoutsville, a stone building, discovered recently that an attempt had been made to chisel around and remove the cornerstone of the building, but had failed to do so. Seems a rumor got around that the cornerstone contained some old coins that today might be valuable. We once knew what was put into that cornerstone, but can’t remember now, but we’re pretty sure nothing of any great value was placed in it. Documents and some emblems used by the church are probably the only articles in it, none of them of much if any money value.

Source: Photos and article from the Monroe County Appeal dated October 19, 1967; submitted by Judy Baker Barklage.