Historic Virginia Houses of Worship

Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in Haywood, Virginia


The second Mt. Carmel Church building was built in 1895, replacing the meeting house built in 1850. Photo © Albert Aylor Project [1.]

In January of 1714 a group of German miners boarded an unknown ship in London, bound for the New World. They were sailing for Virginia, who's Governor, Alexander Spottswood, would pay their passage in exchange for four years of labor. A second group of Germans would come to Virginia in 1717.

The second group would have to work seven years for their freedom. My Carpenter ancestors were in that group. When their servitude was ended, many of the Germanna miners found homes in the Hebron Valley of Madison County. Here they were able to obtain land for farming and many of the immigrants began working their trades.

Albert Aylor was a furniture maker. His family settled in the Hebron Valley and like many of the immigrants, they found comfort and fellowship in the Church. Many of the Aylor family were members of the Mt. Carmel congregation. A meeting house was built in 1850 and was replaced by the building shown above in 1895.

In the 1950's, a donation from Frank Armstrong allowed the congregation to build this fine classical brick building, which stands today as a testimony of the faith of our Hebron Valley forefathers.

More information may be found at:
The Albert Alyor Project [click to read].
Albert Aylor [click to read] was an Old-world craftsman who not only made fine furniture, but violins as well. He is even known to have built at least one architectural model.




Built in the 1950's, the present church building has a clean classical style.