Paint flaked away from the walls of a former Berkeley County church, and suddenly, history emerged.
W. Michie Klusemyer, bishop of West Virginia's Episcopal Diocese, said workmen were called in recently to help renovate a Bunker Hill church known as the Morgan Chapel. What they found, he said, was beyond anyone's expectations.
"I believe it's quite a find," he said.
As workmen scraped the walls, paint peeled away in chunks, revealing what appeared to be graffiti left behind by soldiers from the Civil War. The more they scraped, the more writings appeared.
The graffiti appears to have been left behind by both Northern and Southern troops who served during the Civil War, he said. It covers much of the inside of the building.
"It appears to be as high as people could reach," Klusemyer said. "It's down low. It's up high. It's just everywhere."
Many of the writings were simply names with dates scribbled nearby. Klusemyer said the dates hailed from the days of the Civil War and they were accompanied by the artists' regiments.
Other comments that lined the walls were more extensive, he said.
Klusemyer said one soldier wrote, "I should not have written on the walls of the house of God. I would not have done so if it had not already been marked up." Another stated, "It's not our rebellion," and a third comment read, "Down with traitors, treason and copperheads."
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