In western Berkeley County, West Virginia stands Hedges Chapel. For more than 170 years this one-room wooden structure of simple architecture has been a focus of Christian spirit, faith and comfort. It stands on a small hill overlooking the two-lane country road that leads the congregation to its doors, while its green-shuttered windows keep watch over the cemetery where some of its faithful rest. In the 1840s, the nearest church was six miles away, a difficult trip on dirt roads, especially in rain or snow. Church was a central focus for the community, and local residents began to feel the need for a nearby church of their own. In 1849 several members of the community decided to build a church, and. Mr. John Hedges donated land for the chapel and cemetery. It is for him that the chapel is named. Neighbors cut the trees, donated timber and other materials, and provided their labor. A neighbor who operated a nearby sawmill volunteered to saw and plane the timber for the structure and the pews. Local horses hauled the materials to the building site. Only nails and window glass were purchased; everything else was locally made. Construction began in the winter of 1849, and in 1850, the Hedges Chapel opened. In the chapel's early days worshipers came to services on foot and on horseback. Later, as the community became more established, the faithful began to arrive in buggies. Hedges Chapel was built as a log structure, although its logs are no longer visible. In 1885 its exterior was covered with white-painted, German-style wood planks, and its 15-foot-high interior walls were clad in plaster. The original logs remain between the two façades silently supporting the chapel, as they have for over 170 years. Originally the chapel had a simple shingle roof, replaced by a slate roof in 1905 and the current metal roof in 1939. Inside the building the congregation worships on the original pews that were built from planks sawn from local trees in 1850. Hedges Chapel was first established as a Methodist Church, the Hedges Stony Lick Run Church. As years passed, chapel membership waxed and waned. In the 1960s and 1970s the chapel was closed, reopened and closed again. Finally, in 1977 Hedges Chapel had fewer than ten active members, and closed its doors seemingly for good. In the 1980s the virtually abandoned building was vandalized and stripped of much of its contents. It seemed less and less likely that the chapel would ever open its doors again. However, faith prevailed over adversity, and, toward the end of the decade the spiritual needs of the area were renewed. In a fortunate coupling, local residents were again in search of a local church, and a number of part-time residents of the new Woods community were in search of a church away from home.