The present Pine Church (St. Mary's Pine), which stands beside the Middle Road a mile or two above Rinkerton, was built in 1873. It was preceded by an older church (Pine Church) which stood 450 yards further southeast, beyond Mrs. Funkhouser's residence, in or near the old graveyard which still may be located there.

On July 25, 1787, when John Pennywitt deeded five acres of land for Pine Church, for the graveyard &c., a church called Pine Church was already there. The oldest grave that the author (John Wayland) has been able to locate in the old graveyard is that of John Roush, who died October 19, 1786. Inasmuch as this was not Roush land, it is probable that the church was built, or was in process of construction, when Mr. Roush was buried there. By this reasoning, therefore, we reach the conclusion that Old Pine Church was built in 1785 or before. Indeed, Dr. W.J. Finck of New Market has records which show that Rev. Paul Henkel was called to be pastor of Rader's, Pine and one or two other churches in 1783.

It is possible, however, that the old church at Rude's Hill, which is regarded as the forerunner of the "Pine churches," was also called Pine Church; for the Pine Woods region was large and extended probably to the river, which circles Rude's Hill on the west side. At any rate, the church that once stood on or near Rude's Hill was certainly a very old church -- one of the very oldest, it may be, ever built in Shenandoah County. And if, as tradition has it, young Pastor Muhlenberg, lately made colonel, repeated his call to arms in the old church at Rude's Hill in January, 1776, it is possible that the eight or nine sons of John Roush who served in the Revolution may have there stepped into line.

Excerpted from John W. Wayland's A History of Shenandoah County, Virginia

Klaus Wust's history of the Pine Church is more recent and more comprehensive than Wayland's.

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