10. Shannon Hill

Like many churches along rural roads, Mt. Gilead Baptist Church on Shannon Hill Road is located at a crossroads, but is apparently far from any other community center or local services. Despite this apparent isolation, Mt. Gilead Baptist Church has a history that extends back almost two hundred years, to a moment when Protestant religious enthusiasm transformed the relationship between Virginians and their faith. This moment, the Second Great Awakening, was connected to broader themes related to religious tolerance, political movement, the reformation of slavery, and the role of women in American society. An exploration of the history of religion in eighteenth and early nineteenth century Virginia connects this church to broader themes encountered by cyclists riding along route 76 as they pass by churches and perhaps wonder about past, present, and future of these buildings and their congregations. This episode is connected to the community of Shannon Hill, located just over 150 miles from Yorktown, the starting point for the westbound route, and nearly 400 miles from the Kentucky border, where eastbound riders enter Virginia.