Have you ever been driving down the highway and saw three crosses sitting in a field and wondered, who put them there and why?
They were put up by a man named Bernard Coffindaffer, who was born in Craigsville, West Virginia. At 42 years of age, Mr. Coffindaffer became a Christian and had a vision to "plant crosses".
He spent $3,000,000 planting 1,864 trios of crosses in 29 states, Zambia and the Philippines. West Virginia has 352 sets of crosses, the most of any state.
The crosses are for everyone, he said. Not for saints or sinners, but for everyone, just a reminder of Jesus as you drive by.
You can't see it from the highway, but the crosses have three nails in them, symbolic of where a body would be. The crosses were all built from California Douglas fir, weighing about 400 pounds each. The center cross is painted gold and the two crosses on either side are painted a pale blue, and the three are set in pea gravel and sand. The three crosses symbolize Christ on the cross, flanked by the two thieves who were crucified with him. The gold paint on the center cross represents royalty, while the pale blue paint on the flanking crosses signifying the earth. Site owners donated the land's use for the crosses and Coffindaffer paid all the bills.
Mr. Coffindaffer died at his home in 1993. His crosses are now cared for by the people who own the land, or by nearby churches who "adopt" the crosses.
Locally, the crosses can be seen on Interstate 81 & Highway 340. The below crosses are located on Rt. 231 in Madison County Va.
See our related article on crosses at Mt. Olivet Christian Church in Elkton Virginia, at intersection of Rt 33 and Resort Drive.
Crosses at Mt. Olivet Christian Church
