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By LOU HATTER
Rappahannock New» Staff Writer
It is, perhaps, an unfortunate - Sign of the times.
In years past, almost every hollow. in the county had at least one church, each with a loyal congregation which arrived by horse and carriage for services every Sunday. Even after the arrival of automobiles, the church parking lot and the pews inside were invariably overflowing with parishioners, most of whom had attended the church their entire lives. ‘ ’ Many were baptized, confirmed, mSrried, eulogized and buried within the spiritual arms of that stnfte community church.
Then came the Shenandoah Natibnal Park, which broke up many of the old hollow communities when fattiilies which had lived in the shadows of the Blue Ridge for generations were forced to move. For others, higher pay and shorter hours than the dawn-fco-dusk farm life lured them and their families from the county for jobs and new hones “down country.”
The county’s old community churches, faced with shrinking congregations and climbing maintenance bills, can no longer afford to dffe/r their neighbors the sanctuary qfitheir parsonages. As time passes, aiie by one the old churches are closing their doors for the last time.
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