Image: St. David's Church, Cullowhee, NC

Description: This is the historic St. David’s in-the-Valley Episcopal Church, located on Forest Hills Road in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Constructed between 1884 and 1886, and consecrated in 1892, the Gothic Revival-style brick masonry church is home to the local Episcopal congregation, and was constructed with funding and support from Welsh-born Judge Daniel D. Davies, whom once lived in a grand Queen Anne-Style mansion across the valley known as Forest Hill. The church, which is the oldest remaining structure I know of with any significance in the Cullowhee area, with most other buildings from the same time period having been lost. The church thrived for several decades, but the congregation began to dwindle during the early 20th Century, with only three members making up the congregation by 1925, growing a bit by 1933, but then shrinking to the point where the church was closed in 1941, and deconsecrated in 1942. The church then sat vacant for over a decade, until renewed interest and growth in the local college led to its revival and reconsecration in 1959, with a small parish hall added to one side of the building. The building continued to function in that configuration for over 50 years, but, due to growth in the church’s size and needs during that time, which were due to the growth of Western Carolina University and Cullowhee, the church received a new parish hall in 2013, designed by local architect Odell Thompson, which harmonizes nicely with the historic church, and also allowed for the removal of the 1959 parish hall addition and restoration of the church’s exterior, with a new covered walkway connecting the two structures. The charming, quaint, and beautiful church with lovely, finely-crafted details continues to serve as the local Episcopal parish, and, as one of the oldest churches still in use in the county, holds a great deal of historical significance, though it is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Title: St. David's Church, Cullowhee, NC
Credit: Own work
Author: Warren LeMay
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes