The Shadow
WILLIAMSBURG, W.Va. — The historic Catholic Church of Mary Immaculate near Williamsburg in Greenbrier County will be the site of the first Saturday devotions, beginning Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and continuing through the month of October.
Built in 1901, the chapel has never been an independent parish but rather a mission of St. Catherine of Siena in Ronceverte or Sacred Heart Church in Rainelle.
It was built by the primarily Irish and German Catholic settlers in the Williamsburg-Renick-Frankford area of northern Greenbrier County. Two previous churches had been built near the site, only to be destroyed by fire.
Prior to having a chapel for the circuit riding priest to officiate at Mass, the area Catholics would gather at Corkrean’s Store in Williamsburg at midnight on Saturday night and walk the 18 miles into Lewisburg for early Mass at the Immaculate Conception Church which was located on the northeast corner of what is now Academy Park, at the intersection of US 60 and Church Street.
The Williamsburg church was closed in the 1960’s but has been maintained through the years along with the Immaculate Conception Cemetery nearby by neighbors and was remodeled in the 1990’s through the efforts of Dr. and Mrs. Larry Musselman who retired to Butler Mountain. Mrs. Musselman grew up as a member of the church.
A covered dish lunch will be held each first Saturday following the Saturday daily Mass which begins at 11 a.m.
Father James Conyers, pastoral assistant for St. Charles Borromeo Church, White Sulphur Springs, and St. Catherine of Siena, Ronceverte, will officiate at the first Saturday devotions and Mass with the support from Father John McDonough, pastor of the Catholic Churches of the Greenbrier Valley.
Located on Catholic Church Road just off the Frankford-Williamsburg Road, which is 4½ miles off U.S. 219 in Frankford, the church and cemetery were featured as the “Church Salute” on the television
