Mason vicinity, Mason County
Early settlers in this area were German immigrants who arrived about 1850. Their first worship services were held about twenty feet north of this site, under a large oak tree on the property of August H. Leifeste, Sr. (1812-1884). During the early 1850s, Conrad Pluenneke (1819-1897), a local preacher, held Methodist services. In 1852, the Rev. Charles A. Grote (1819-1887), a Methodist, and the Rev. Philip F. Zizelmann (1824-1902), a Lutheran, traveled from Fredericksburg to hold services once a month. Although the oak tree no longer stands, the site remains important to the religious heritage of Mason County. (1985)