Grace Union Church and Cemetery

Grace Union Church and Cemetery occupy a wooded knoll near Blackburn in south central Catawba County. The church, built in 1857, is a one-story brick building with a pedimented gable, wide frieze and stuccoed corner pilasters. It is the only mid-nineteenth century church known to survive in the county and the only one of its Greek Revival design. Lutheran and Reformed congregations of German settlers built it jointly, replacing an earlier log church; Joseph Irby laid the brick and a Mr. Harrellson did the carpentry. Alterations in the 1940s changed the facade doors, windows and interior, though the classical design remains intact. The adjoining cemetery holds about two hundred gravestones, the oldest legible one dated 1822. Many stones made before 1870 carry Germanic designs, and several are attributed to a South Carolina workshop. The church is now used for Boy Scout and church activities, and the cemetery remains in use.