About

Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church traces its existence to 1789 when Shenandoah Valley circuit preacher Paul Henkel held services for the German community in a schoolhouse nearby at Seawright Springs. By 1805, the congregation had built a frame structure on land deeded by Mary and Samuel King. The old Salem cemetery contains several headstones with German inscriptions that date to the early 19th century. In 1859 a new building was constructed. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's mother, Ida Stover, became a member of the congregation in 1875. The present brick church, dedicated in 1929, just north of here.