38°44'33.6"N
78°41'00.3"W

GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: 38.74268,
Longitude: -78.68341

This Old Pine Church cemetery memorial is located in a pasture field on the right side of the lane a few hundred yards south from the present St. Mary's Pine Church Cemetery. This memorial marks the original location of the Old Pine Church and cemetery prior to the present. Many of the tombstones were moved to the St Mary's Pine Church Cemetery or Grace Cemetery but the graves remain. The names of the known interred here are inscribed on the back of the memorial. CMHS

Freedom was not known when those who wanted to worship freely did so at Rude´s Hill. Members walked 5 to 10 miles to a small building near a fort defending them from Indian attacks. The year was 1760 and it was the beginning of St. Mary´s Pine Lutheran Church, which sits on South Middle Road in Mount Jackson today. In the beginning the church was known as Rude´s Hill Church because of the location. According to a history gathered by Julie Wilkins, member, worship could go back as far as 1745. A history of Shenandoah County by John Wayward records that St. Mary´s could be the oldest church in Shenandoah County. ``In January 1776, Peter Muhlenberg probably delivered his famous war sermon at the Rude´s Hill Church, and nine of John Rausch´s sons stepped forward to serve in the Revolutionary War,´´ the history reads. In July of 1787, the second church building was built on land deeded to Michael Zirkle and John Fitzmoyer. Both the Lutheran and Reformed churches worshipped there until 1874 when they split.
The present St Mary's Pine Lutheran Church Cemetery is located down a lane across the road from the present day church on S Middle Rd near Mt Jackson, VA in Shenandoah County. The original Old Pine Church Cemetery is located a few yards farther down the lane on the right. It is marked with a memorial. There are no standing tombstones left there. Some have deteriorated and some were moved to the new Pine Church Cemetery or to the Grace Cemetery.
(history of Pine Church)