This ancient church served under four names and in four counties. Liberty Presbyterian Church was organized by the Rev. Daniel Thatcher about 1788. Its original place of worship, a log house, was erected near War Hill about seven miles from the present site. It was called Liberty because, though built by Presbyterians, all orthodox denominations were allowed to use it. The Presbytery of Hopewell, formed Nov. 3, 1796, held its first session in Liberty Church on March 16, 1798. Soon after 1800, the log house was abandoned and a new structure was erected at the top of Starr’s Hill on the old Greensboro Post Road, and the church’s name was changed to Salem. The Rev. Francis Cummins was the first minister to preach there. That building was used until 1834, when the location of the Greensboro road changed and a new church edifice was erected at the site of the present Phillips Mills Baptist Church. The Rev. S. J. Cassels was the first pastor there, followed by the Rev. Francis R. Goulding. In 1848, the Salem church building was sold to the Baptists, and the entire Presbyterian membership moved to Woodstock, now Philomath, where a new church edifice had been built. The Rev. John W. Reid was pastor at the time of the removal.