Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Consecration of St. Sylvester Catholic Church
Woodsfield, Ohio, the county seat of Monroe County, was founded by Archibald Woods in 1814. The quiet and secluded rural community nestled in the rolling hills of Southeastern Ohio has been the home to Monroe County Catholics since the construction of the first church in the early 1800s. The history of the Catholic Church in Woodsfield began with several sturdy farm families, who settled along Crane’s Nest Creek (Little Muskingum), known as Dougherty’s Settlement. There, the faithful built the log church of Saints Peter and Paul in 1839. The location of the log church is referred to as “Chapel Bottom,” the land to the east of the Little Muskingum River, directly across the creek from the Dougherty Cemetery. This early church, through the dedication of its parishioners, served as a center of worship until the close of the Civil War in 1866. At that time, a new parish and congregation dedicated to Saint Sylvester was formed.
