Calvary Episcopal Church, Fletcher, NC

Sometimes a great part of history is right in your own backyard and you never realize it until you stumble across it quite by accident. I was doing some research for the blog I did called "the Ghost Rider Of The Confederacy" and since the Church was only about 5 miles from my apartment, I decided to take a ride down there and take a look for myself. The church is located on Highway 25 in Fletcher, NC and the church grounds and cemetery are open to the public. Calvary Episcopal Church was organized in 1857, making it one of the oldest churches in western North Carolina.

Calvary Episcopal Church is a beautiful church with a huge cemetery with some of the most interesting headstones and grave markers that I had ever seen. While doing my research, I found out the church was built in 1859 and quite a bit of it burned down in the 1920's but the original bell tower had been left standing. The church was rebuilt after the fire, incorporating the original bell tower as part of the new structure.

There were several headstones that were shaped like a small log and those symbolized that the people interred there had been part of a Masonic Lodge called the "Woodmen Of The World". I also saw a headstone that had the symbol of the free masons on it. Some bore symbols of things I did not recognize and others were just very ornate.

The Church had a deep connection to the Civil War other than the ghost rider of the Confederacy. The Church had been used as a barracks for Confederate soldiers going off to war and also had been used as a hospital for both Confederate and Union soldiers. At the back of the church there are several monuments that were dedicated to some of the more important figures of the Civil War, including the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. I had never seen anything like that at a church before. It is well worth the hour it took to tour the grounds and the cemetery.