Scotch-Irish Presbyterians seeking freedom of worship and led by the Rev. Alexander Craighead built a log meetinghouse about 1749 a mile and a half down the Cowpasture River. Indians burned it during the French and Indian War. The congregation then moved to this site in the cove, named for a nearby limestone “blowing” cave, and erected another log church in 1766. A third log structure, built about 1816, was replaced in 1838 when the prospering community of river planters and upland farmers built the present brick church and session house. A vestibule was added in 1948, and the rear addition in 1959. Windy Cove became the mother church for Presbyterians in Bath and Highland counties.