ood. Waddel's fame as
a preacher had spread through the vicinity. On one occasion a committee
from a different faith prepared to wait on him and urge him to occupy
their pulpit as well as his own. Upon nearing his dwelling they were
shocked to hear sweet plaintive notes coming from a violin and resolved
to learn who in his household would dare to play the devil's instrument.
They crept softly to the window. Such amazement was theirs when they saw
their potential minister himself drawing the bow--and with apparent
enjoyment and satisfaction. More quickly than they had approached did
they leave the yard and felt righteously thankful that they had seen the
true nature of the man before it was too late!

Not only did the Blind Preacher serve as minister, but like others of
his profession he conducted a school.

And what happened to the old church itself? Long abandoned as a meeting
house for the Presbyterians, about 1850 it was sold and taken down by
the "Sons of Temperance" and converted into a temperance hall at
Gordonsville. Later it housed a school. Finally it was sold to a colored
preacher as a church for his flock.

Hebron Church

Outstanding among the old churches in this part of Virginia is Hebron
Church in Madison County.

The little colony of Germans at Germanna, to whom we have already
referred, and a few immigrants from Holland were responsible for its
early establishment. First it was known as "Old Dutch Church." Located
on its original site its existence has been in three different counties:
Orange, Culpeper and now Madison!

Hebron is the oldest Lutheran church not only in Virginia but in the
South. About 1733 the nucleus of the congregation met and sent a
representative to England for a pastor. It seems a bit surprising that
no English parson felt the call to tend the flock in an outpost of
Virginia, but it is true that no one was possessed of the missionary
spirit to that extent.

In 1735 a Hessian who had come to America eight years before, the Rev.
Casper Stoever, left his home in Pennsylvania and became the first
pastor. His annual salary, by the way, was four thousand pounds of
tobacco or just about forty dollars in currency. This was paid by the
congregation in addition to the taxes which were required of the
Non-Conformist churches towards the upkeep of the established English
church.

Everyone in Madison is vastly proud of the old pipe organ at Hebron. It
was built in 1800 at Phila