HAGERSTOWN, Md. (DC News Now) -- The Christmas season is a time for faith to play an important part in some people's lives. In Hagerstown, the city is telling its history, and that of the nation's as well, in an enlightening tour of the city's houses of worship. Locals search for slopes as white Christmas dodges DC At downtown Hagerstown's Zion Reform United Methodist Church, Rae Smith takes visitors back more than 150 years. "During the Civil War, the Confederate Army threatened to burn down the city of Hagerstown," Smith said. "They wanted $25,000 in ransom in the form of money, food and clothing. And, in today's money, you're talking millions of dollars." As Smith explains, church member J. Dixon Roman, president of the local bank, raised half that sum and convinced the church to sell their stained-glass windows to raise the other half. But Smith relates other notable moments in U.S. history at this church. "Gen. George Armstrong Custer used our bell steeple as a lookout and sniper point during the Civil War," Smith said. "If you go up there you can actually see bullet scrapings on the bells." With so much history to share, the city of Hagerstown has built a walking tour around its places of worship, of many denominations. "Think about the different wars and different conflicts in our country," Tiffany Ahalt with Visit Hagerstown's convention and visitors bureau, said. "Worship sites have always been a place for people to gather." Volunteers turn out at Meritus Health for holiday meal deliveries on Christmas Eve As Ahalt sees it, Hagerstown's places of worship have an enduring mark on the city. "Churches from the earliest days were really pillars of the community and today they still are," Ahalt said. While on the Places of Worship Tour, visitors may celebrate the holiday by taking in Hagerstown's welcoming dining experiences, Ahalt said.