MVSG – Middletown Valley Sacred Ground
This is a tour of church cemeteries in the Middletown Valley. The Valley north of I-70 is deep country, lightly populated. Rolling hills and woodlands bracketed by mountains and meandering creeks set this geocaching scene. The spiritual ancestors for these churches moved into the north Valley (1756) from York County, Pa. Whoa! That was 270 years ago folks. ‘Sacred’ is the key word here. Six of eight locations will be active Sunday mornings. Good caching stewardship will take this into account.
These caches are strictly dawn to dusk!
MVSG - John
Early history (1770’s) for this church is murky. It was simply called ‘Jerusalem.’ A Rev. Georg Hehl served as both pastor and parochial school teacher. Living in part of the building which burned down at some point, Rev. Hehl ended all activity. A change in ownership resulted in the construction of a log church in 1790 that served two groups - The Reformed Church and The German Lutheran Church.
The stone structure present today, St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, was completed in 1880, featuring interior galleries on three sides. The adjacent cemetery was laid out during this period as well, and you find John therein.