Baughman Settlement, West Virginia facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Baughman Settlement
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 Baughman Settlement
Location in West Virginia
Baughman Settlement
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | West Virginia |
| County | Hardy |
| Elevation | 1,742 ft (531 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1553811 |
Baughman Settlement is a small, quiet community in West Virginia, United States. It's not a city or town with its own government. Instead, it's an unincorporated community. This means it's a group of homes and buildings that are part of a larger county. Baughman Settlement is located in the eastern part of Hardy County. You can find it near a place called Breakneck Ridge and close to the Lost River.
Contents
Mount Moriah Lutheran Church
At the heart of Baughman Settlement stands the historic Mount Moriah Lutheran Church. This church was built around the year 1907. It has a long history in the area.
Early Church History
The first records of Lutheran worship in Baughman Settlement go all the way back to 1833. That's when the Cedar Hill Lutheran Church was first started. In its early years, local ministers traveled to serve the church. One of these ministers, Reverend Peter Miller, even served the church during the American Civil War. In 1907, special services were held for the new church building. By this time, the church had been renamed Mount Moriah. People believe the older church building was right next to where the current church stands today. Regular church services continued in Baughman Settlement until the 1940s. Even now, a special "Homecoming Service" is held there every year on the fourth Sunday in June.
Church Exterior Features
The Mount Moriah Lutheran Church is a wooden building. It is covered with white weatherboards, which are long, thin pieces of wood. The church sits on a foundation made of natural, uneven stones. The main entrance is on the southeast side of the building. It has a single door with four panels. A simple decorative frame is above the door. Above the door, a metal sign proudly displays the words "Mt. Moriah Lutheran Church." A round window is placed in the center of the roof's triangular end, called a gable.
On the southwest and northeast sides of the church, there are three windows each. These windows have six small panes of glass on the top and six on the bottom. They also have shutters. The wide edges of the gable roof are decorated with carved brackets. These decorations give the simple building a touch of Victorian style. Concrete steps lead up to the front entrance of the church.
Church Interior Details
When you walk inside the church, a single aisle runs down the middle. This aisle leads to the chancel, which is the area where the altar is located. The chancel is at the far end of the church, on the northwest wall. Simple, stained wooden pews fill the main seating area, called the nave.
The chancel area is raised up on a five-sided platform. A low rail surrounds this platform on three sides. This is called a communion rail. It has square wooden posts, called balusters. The ends of the rail have fancier, turned balusters. A second, smaller square platform sits on top of the first one. This is where the pulpit is located, which is where the minister speaks.
The walls inside the church are covered with plaster. There's a wide wooden board at the bottom of the walls, called a baseboard. At the top, there's a decorative wooden trim called crown molding. The ceiling is made of wooden boards that fit together like a puzzle, called tongue-in-groove boards. To the side of the chancel, there's an old reed organ. It was made by the Beckwith Organ Company in Chicago, Illinois.
See also
In Spanish: Baughman Settlement (Virginia Occidental) para niños
