Mt. Moriah Church was founded in 1870, when Colonel David D. Sanderson donated 88 acres of land in the Laws Hill area to a small congregation of Baptists and Campbellites (later known as the Church of Christ), led by David Lawman, Volney Peel and Joseph Tally. These local congregations had originally planned to build a small frame chapel on the hill, but after the very generous donation of Colonel Sanderson, the congregations built this grand brick church and shared the church for their services. Construction of the church was finished by 1871. A nearby graveyard was also laid out at the same time as the church, and contains the graves of numerous local citizens, including church founder David Lawman.
The church survived for over 100 years, with local Baptists continuing to use the church. By the late 20th century, the church had been abandoned and began to deteriorate. Near death, the building was beautifully restored in the late 1990s by local businessman Bill Fitch, owner of the nearby Fitch Farms.
Mt. Moriah Church has elements from the Romanesque Revival school of architecture, with rounded arches above the windows and brick pilasters along the sides of the church.
The picture of Mt. Moriah Church circa 1989 is courtesy of the Marshall County MSGenWeb website (http://www.msgw.org/marshall/).
Hill Country History 
I’m from Laws Hill and also an avid photographer I have photographs of this church over the span of almost 20 years I also renewed my vows inside this beauty!
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That’s great, I’d love to see how this church has transformed over the past many decades. Feel free to send me any pictures you would like included on this page (phillip@knechtlaw.org) and I’ll be sure to credit you.
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Phillip do you have any of these photos for sale?
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Terry, I can print any of the photos (except the photo from 1989) in either 8.5 x 11 or 13 x 19. Email me at phillip@knechtlaw.org if you are interested! Just FYI, I’ll be heading back to Mt. Moriah in the Fall to take some additional pictures without all the foliage (to incorporate more of the architectural features) if you want to wait for those.
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Hi Phillip, my cousin and I found this beautiful church as we were trying to make our way to Waterford and just had to stop and look. Is it ever open to go inside a look around????
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Hi Judy, I’m really not sure when the Church is open, though I’m sure it is open at least a few times during the year.
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My Grandparents and other family members are buried there. I attended services there in the 1960’s and have photographs when the church was in it’s worst state in the early 90’s. I actually took the photograph that was provided by the genweb site and posted here..
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