Trinity Presbyterian church gathers on the traditional and ancestral home of the Manahoac People and the Monacan Nation. We acknowledge, with gratitude, the stewards of the land through the generations and the land itself, just as we are

called by God, Creator, to be better stewards of this of this land and representatives of God’s love in this place.

 

Well into the 17th Century there were substantial and stable settlements of Indigenous people in the Shenandoah, some within a few miles of where we now congregate. Between 1731 and 1800, these residents were quickly pushed out by Euro-Americans. Not only did they lose their ancestral homes, their communities and cultures were devastated.

For more than 130 years, the new residents of the Valley used the labor of enslaved people to develop the land and accumulate wealth. By 1850, Rockingham County included 2,800 enslaved people, and Harrisonburg had about 700. In 1865, despite strong resistance by local residents, Emancipation became the law of the land. Local residents, churches, and governments then worked against efforts to educate formerly enslaved individuals, and organized to keep them subservient and economically weak. For the next 100 years, African Americans were prevented from participating as citizens. The legacy of white supremacy continues to this day.

Trinity’s building was built by a slave owner in about 1825. Enslaved people were a major source of construction labor. For more than 50 years, the land now occupied by Trinity was farmed using enslaved individuals, mostly of African descent. We know that the owner counted as property 8 men, women and children, in 1830 and enslaved about 15 in 1850.  When the owner died in the 1850s, he directed his son to free the enslaved adults and send them to Liberia. It is said that about 10 people chose to go.  After 1865, we know that one formerly enslaved person stayed in service to the former enslaver’s family for at least 20 years. Discrimination and poor education created poverty and tensions that persist to this day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Valley was settled by immigrants from other places and cultures. In recent years, we have been the host to many people of all races and many cultures. However, some people continue to treat these newcomers as less than equal.Trinity was formed in 1963 with the shared principle that each person is entitled to equal treatment and opportunity. We continue to dedicate ourselves to reaching out to the community to enable this principle.

 

The 190-year-old antebellum home which now serves as the cornerstone of Trinity Presbyterian Church was constructed on a large tract of farm land first known as Homeland and later as Kyle Meadows. That farm was given to Robert M. Kyle by his father Jeremiah Kyle, son of David Kyle who came to the Valley as an Irish peddler and soon was said to be the richest man in Rockingham County.  Robert was married to Mary Byrd.

When Robert died in 1862, Mary’s brother, William P. Byrd was living with them.  Mary’s father, Colonel Abraham Byrd, lived at Stoneleigh up on the hill on Market Street. Whenever father or daughter had a message one for the other, they would fly a white flag and send a young enslaved child—one we know was named Kemper—to see what the message was. When in 1864, Union General Philip Sheridan came to the Valley, he used Stoneleigh as his headquarters and had his men camp at Kyle Meadows. He also used the same signaling system.

Mary’s father had a nice McClellan saddle stored in the attic at Kyle Meadows. In 1864 a Union soldier who had learned about the saddle from one of the slaves decided to go to the attic and get it. After a Union guard assigned to protect the property ordered the soldier to halt two times, the soldier kept going and the guard fired and killed him. One hundred years later, when our church members were doing some remodeling, bloodstains still remained on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, so a new floor was put on that room.

Soon after the war ended, Mary Byrd Kyle became the wife of the Reverend Lemuel Sutton Reed, who lived in Harrisonburg until 1877 when the family moved to Farmville; Lemuel was the father of Dr. Walter Reed. The house and property were then sold to Peter W. Reherd. After that, the property went to the Sunset Heights Development Corporation, operated by Will Reherd and Owen Brock, and later they sold the house and 4 ½ acres to Earl Wetsel. He in turn sold that property to Robert and Helen Marshman, and finally in 1960, the Marshmans sold the house to First Presbyterian Church for $55,000. First Church waited a year and a half to take over the property.  The Church decided to put its purchase to use, agreeing with Lexington Presbytery to start a second Presbyterian church in Harrisonburg at the site. A new congregation was organized by Lexington Presbytery on Feb. 17, 1963, and named Trinity Presbyterian Church. The property was turned over to the Trustees of Trinity Church on March 15, 1963.

The home was remodeled by combining the living room, dining room and kitchen

of the main house, creating a sanctuary, and a side porch on the south side was

enclosed to make a church office. The Reverend Don Allen was called by the

Presbytery to be the organizing minister. He was Trinity’s devoted minister,

teacher and leader for the next eighteen years.