WILLIAMSBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – The Catholic Church of Mary Immaculate near Williamsburg in Greenbrier County will be the site for First Saturday Devotions and daily Mass followed by a covered dish luncheon on the grounds, May 2 at 10:30 a.m. First Saturdays will also be observed in the Williamsburg church on June 6, July 5, Aug. 1, Sept. 5 and Oct. 3.
Constructed in 1902, the Chapel is the oldest Catholic Church building in Greenbrier County.
The Diocese of Wheeling/Charleston closed the Chapel in the 1960s, but the Knights of Columbus sponsored a Mass in the Chapel on Memorial Days in the late 1980s after the late Father Ed McDonald, as pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Church in Ronceverte, held a Mass and lunch on the grounds on July 4, 1982.
The Ronceverte congregation began years later to have the First Saturdays Masses, devotions and covered dish luncheons during May through October.
The Williamsburg church never had a priest of its own but shared with Sacred Heart Parish in Rainelle or St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Ronceverte.
Directions: From the east, take I-64 to the Lewisburg Ronceverte Exit, then go north on U.S. 219 to Frankford and turn onto the Williamsburg/Frankford Road to the Catholic Church Road, where you pass the church cemetery before approaching the church.
From the west, take I-64 to the Alta Exit, turning north on WV 12, then right onto U.S. 60 East and immediately left onto the Williamsburg Road, traveling approximately nine miles to the village of Williamsburg. On the eastern part of Williamsburg, turn left onto Frankford Road and travel approximately four miles to the top of a hill, where a left turn on Catholic Church Road will leave a few hundred feet past the Church Cemetery to the Chapel.
Another service conducted in the Greenbrier Valley during May will be the Recitation of the Rosary each Sunday in May at 6 p.m. at Mount Lorretta
Cemetery adjoining St. Charles Borromeo Church in White Sulphur Springs, where some seating will be available.
The public is invited to the Williamsburg and St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery services.
For additional information, contact the office of the Catholic Churches of the Greenbrier Valley at 304-536-1813 or 304-520-6868 for the Greenbrier Valley Council 8689 Knights of Columbus.
