Our History

Henry Moonshine, (1760-1836), owned the farm of which the church property is a part. He established the cemetery when his fourteen year-old son died in 1822. The church building, originally a log structure, was started but not completed at the time of Henry's death. In the following years, it was completed and clad with wooden siding.

The church operated with three different denominations; The Lutheran and German Reformed, United Zion, and the Old German Baptist. The three groups had an agreement that no other denomination could preach in the church without unanimous written consent, with the exception of funerals.

In 1906 two small tracts of land were purchased to expand the cemetery. In 1936 the church building was enlarged and remodeled. On February 2, 1961 the church was destroyed by fire. At that time, only the United Zion Church had a desire to finance the rebuilding of the church. Consequently, by the time the new building was completed and dedicated on February 14, 1962, the old agreement between the three denominations was dissolved and the United Zion Church was given exclusive rights to worship in the new Moonshine Church.

The current building has undergone a few renovations over the past several decades, and the cemetery has been expanded as well.