Where is the Oldest Adventist Building Still in Use?

Story by Shannon Kelly / Image by Richardo Castillo

Want to worship at the oldest Adventist church building still standing and in use?

In the mid-1800s, a man named Algeron Lewis (in some census records, spelled “Algernon”) and Mary Katherine Lewis fell in love while Algeron was working at Woodland Farm in Ford, Va. After moving away and converting to Adventism, the couple returned, and in 1895, organized a church there. The congregation met in tents for four years, until the church building, originally called Bethel, was constructed.

What is now known as the Ford Seventh-day Adventist Church is the oldest Adventist church building still in use and the second-oldest congregation in the Potomac Conference. According to the church’s website, the original pews, railings and a podium the congregation’s co-founder built are still used today.