Union Grove Church

Palmyra, Trimble County, Kentucky

 In the heart of a rural community in Trimble County stands Union Gove Church, some 94 years old, having been built in the fall of 1892 and completed in the spring of 1893.  The beginning of the congregation goes back even further.  In the 1850’s there were only four churches in the county: Bedford Church, Mr. Byrd Christian, Corn Creek Baptist, and the Mt. Tabor Methodist.  Poor roads made it impossible to travel any distance; therefore the people of the Mt. Tabor community attended the Methodist church there.  The building was built in the late 1700’s in an area called Winona, an Indian name given it by the tribes who had hunted there.

 The beginnings of the Union Gove Church, in the 1850’s was when the Christian and Baptist members asked to use the building after the Methodist services, and so a type of Union Church was started.  This building was later abandoned, and a neat frame building was built, one mile east of it, by the three denominations, the present site of the Union Gove Church.  The land where the church stands was donated by Mrs. America Miles.  Walter S. Mitchell wrote “The place was a thicket; greenbriars and blackberry vines were reaching from here to yonder.”  William Spillman was the carpenter in charge.  The name if Union Grove was chosen because it was a union of churches and was built in a grove of trees.

 The first trustees of the church were: Charles Mitchell of the Christian Church, Nathan Cull of the Methodist church, and William T. Carraco of the Baptist church.  The W. M. S. of Locust church presented a communion table and chairs, in more recent years the table was replaced by one of cherry wood from the farm of Aubrey Jones and donated by him.  Ida Mae Johnson gave a silver communion set, some of which is still in possession of the church.  Song services at the new church were without the benefit of a musical instrument, later a pump organ was purchased and it was played by Mrs. Birdie Dehoney.  A painting, “The Good Shepherd,” by Doris Jones Eggenspiller, made in more recent years, hangs in the church sanctuary.

 Charter members are fro the Spillman, Cull, Carraco, Mitchell, Neeves, Ginn, Jackson, Bell, Coghill, Webster, Coblins, and Jones families.

 The only dissention in those early days was among the Baptists themselves.  In 1909, about half of them bought the Mt. Herman Church building and moved there, taking some of their records with them.  Later, in the 1940’s some of the Methodists broke away from Union grove, longing to go back to their old territory.  They rebuilt their church where the old Mt. Tabor building had one stood.

 By 1952 the church had grown to such proportions the additional Sunday School rooms became a necessity, and construction resulted in the addition of two basement rooms and two ground floor rooms.  An oil furnace was installed at that time.  Serving on this building committee were Aubrey Jones, Geo. Miles, Gale Young, and Mrs. Carl Abbott.

 In 1959 the growth of the church called or more additions, three new Sunday School rooms and restrooms were added to the west side of the existing building, at a cost of $5,620.  These new rooms were dedicated August 16, 1959 and the church history was compiled and given by Mrs. Clyde Cropper.  Carey Ginn, Sunday School Superintendent at the time preside

We found this as a typescript in the Trimble County Library in Bedford.  There's no author credited, unless it's Mrs. Cropper, referred to in the last paragraph.  If you can confirm that, or let us know who the author is, We'd be happy to give them full credit.  You can email me here.