Authorities are examining a case of suspected arson that utterly destroyed a historic church in Raleigh County, West Virginia. On the night of June 26th, the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department was notified that the Saint Colman Catholic Church in Shady Spring had been damaged by fire, according to a statement the agency released on their Facebook page. Upon their arrival, they found that the structure had actually been burned to the ground.
” At this time, the fire is considered suspicious in nature and is being investigated as arson,” Beaver VFD added.
“This breaks my heart. This was such a stunning piece of history. The residents have been complaining about the problems going on here and absolutely nothing was done,” local Aaren Brown stated of the blaze, indicating that vandalism had actually been a problem for the church in the past.
Wes Bennett, a parishioner, and volunteer from St. Patrick’s Church in Hinton, West Virginia, described a few of these occasions.
“For many years, a group people from St. Patrick in Hinton invested many long but enjoyable days doing repair work and maintenance on this church,” he said. “We went up once when we got a report that someone had harmed the altar. They had torn a leading board off the old wood altar and then dropped a couple pieces they had actually torn off the front [of the church] down in it.”
Other residents explained that the site was popular among paranormal investigators who remained in some cases suspected of breaking windows to get entry to the structure.
The church, which was initially built in 1877, was added into the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
“St. Colman’s Roman Catholic Church and Cemetery on Irish Mountain is substantial as the sole making it through remains of a once-thriving self-sufficient Irish immigrant population in the southern coal fields of West Virginia,” the filing checks out. “Found in a very separated location, this neighborhood of Irish farmers became practically self-sufficient and formed a distinctive ethnic group.”
“Sitting atop Sullivan’s Knob, its prominence is unparalleled by any other natural or developed feature for many miles. Its significance was acknowledged in your area when it was formally designated a Raleigh County Historic Landmark in September of 1983.”
The little structure included 12 benches and a white altar that were built in 1904 by Father J. J. Swint, a carpenter, and priest who later on wound up being Bishop of Wheeling. The modest structure included an unadorned cross and white clapboard siding which were put over the initial hewn logs that the Irish community cut from the mountain nearly 150 years before.
According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which tracks anti-Catholic violence: including the suspected arson of St. Colman’s church,
“At least 142 incidents have occurred across 36 states and the District of Columbia since May 2020. Incidents include arson, statues beheaded, limbs cut, smashed, and painted, gravestones defaced with swastikas and anti-Catholic language and American flags next to them burned, and other destruction and vandalism. “
The Ghent VFD, Coal City VFD, Ghent EMS, National Forest Service, and the West Virginia State Police assisted the Beaver VFD at the scene. Individuals with details concerning the fire are suggested to get in touch with the West Virginia State Police at (304) 256-6700, the West Virginia State Fire Marshal’s arson hotline at +1 (800) 233-3473, or Crime Stoppers of Raleigh County at (304) 255-7867.
