Franklin was slightly more churched than Augusta. Its denominations were more concentrated in the German traditions, but Augusta's churches were larger and more expensive.

Churches were important social institutions in both counties. Augusta was home to 54 churches and Franklin 92, according to the 1860 U.S. Census. Augusta had one church for every 513 persons, while Franklin had one for every 458. Churches in Augusta could accommodate 65 percent of the county's total population (82 percent of its white population), while Franklin's churches could hold 80 percent of the county's population. The value of church property compared favorably, as both counties invested almost $4 per capita in their churches. In Augusta 49 percent of residents and in Franklin 55 percent of residents lived within one mile of a church. No citizen of either place was farther than 5 1/2 miles from a church. Augustans were concentrated in Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist congregations, and they built large, expensive churches. In Franklin these denominations were less substantial than the Lutherans, German Reformed, and Mennonites.

Augusta County, Va., Churches and Schools (map)

Augusta County, Va., Churches and Voting Precincts (map)

Churches and Voting Precincts, Augusta (table)

Comparison, Churches and Schools (map)

Denominational Statistics for Augusta and Franklin Counties (table)

Distances to Major Institutions (table)

Franklin County, Pa., Churches and Schools (map)

Franklin County, Pa., Churches and Voting Precincts (map)

Franklin County Churches and Voting Precincts (table)

Related Historiography

Vernon O. Burton, In My Father's House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1985)

William H. Pease and Jane H. Pease, The Web of Progress: Private Values and Public Styles in Boston and Charleston, 1828-1843 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985).