The Old Chapel Church, also known locally as the "Snow Creek Chapel", was built in 1769 as a chapel of ease for the Church of England parish in what is today Penhook, Virginia, United States.
The Old Chapel Church, also known locally as the "Snow Creek Chapel", was built in 1769 as a chapel of ease for the Church of England parish in what is today Penhook, Virginia, United States.
The chapel was 32 ft × 24 ft (10 m × 7.5 m), a frame house with clapboard roof, a plank floor, with pulpit and desk. There would be a pitch of 12' to the roof. There were to be two doors and five windows, with a small table and benches. [1]
A typical chapel in Colonial Virginia was built as a frame church, and the Old Chapel Church has post and beam construction. [2] Over one hundred frame churches similar to this existed in Virginia before the American Revolution: now only four are still standing. [3] One of these frame churches is St. John's Episcopal Church (Richmond, Virginia), where Patrick Henry gave his famous Give me liberty, or give me death! speech.
"Certain elements that he found confirmed the church's historic significance. The church had a chancel door, an exit located near the communion table, which is typical of 17th and 18th century Anglican churches, Lounsbury [4] said." [5]
"The ancient roadbed @ the SW corner of the lot is believed to be a remnant of the Pigg River Road. This road and several others provided a major East – West route through Franklin County, Virginia, and the Old Chapel became a familiar landmark along the road. The last member of Old Chapel Church, Mrs. Virginal Kelley, passed in 2009 at the age of 95." [6]
In 2017, the Old Chapel Church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has also deemed the church a "Virginia Treasure," a designation for ecological, cultural, scenic and recreational assets. [7]
The chapel was also known as "the King's House" at the time of the American Revolution. This was in part because the land and church were owned by the King of England as head of the church, and also this is where local taxes were paid to the crown, usually in tobacco. A tradition exists that this was also an area where gunpowder and arms were stored by the British. [8] [9]
The early church was formed for the Antrim Parish, which later became the Camden Parish as the counties of Franklin, Pittsylvania, Patrick and Henry were formed from Halifax County.
Camden Parish was formed from Antrim Parish when Pittsylvania County was established in 1767 with 938 white and 316 slave tithables. A tithe paying person was every white or black male (unless a woman had her own business) in the parish, who was required by law to support the local established church. [10]
The early priests were: the Reverend Foulis, who resigned in 1759. The Reverend Alex Gordon was next, and then replaced by the Reverend James Stevenson of Williamsburg, Virginia, who took an absence of three months to go to London to be ordained. In March 1771, the Reverend Lewis Gwilliam became the minister of Camden Parish. Although appointed to the Pittsyvania County Committees of safety (American Revolution), he was suspected of Tory loyalties. Gwilliam was paid a salary by the parish through 1779, but in 1776 there were several requests not to pay his salary. Also suspected of disloyalty to the revolution were John Pigg and Samuel Calland (of whom Callands, Virginia was named).
There were some prominent members of the congregation. John Pigg, for whom the Pigg River was named, was a member of the church congregation. So was Colonel William Witcher, a militia officer who led county troops in the Cherokee Expedition in 1776 and 1777, as well as local troops at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. John Donelson, father in law to President Andrew Jackson, was also a member of the congregation. [11]
Hugh Innes was a judge and represented the county first in the House of Burgesses (1769-1774), the first revolutionary convention (1774), and then in the House of Delegates (1783). [12]
"Once an Anglican church in the Antrim Parish of Halifax County, Virginia Old Chapel Church was later by Primitive Baptists until 2009." [13]
Today the church land and building are privately owned.
Pittsylvania County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,506. Chatham is the county seat.
Franklin County is a county located in the Blue Ridge foothills of the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 56,159. Its county seat is Rocky Mount.
Penhook is a census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The population was 801 at the 2010 census, up from 726 in 2000. It is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Rocky Mount is a town in and the county seat of Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The town is part of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, and had a population of 4,799 as of the 2010 census. It is located in the Roanoke Region of Virginia.
Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1674 by the consolidation of two previous parishes in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Episcopal parish. The building, constructed 1711–15, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as a well-preserved early example of colonial religious architecture.
St. John's Church is an Episcopal church located at 2401 East Broad Street in Richmond, Virginia, United States. Formed from several earlier parishes, St. John's is the oldest church in the city of Richmond, Virginia. It was built in 1741 by William Randolph's son, Colonel Richard Randolph; the Church Hill district was named for it. It was the site of two important conventions in the period leading to the American Revolutionary War, and is famous as the location where Patrick Henry gave his memorable speech at the Second Virginia Convention, closing with the often-quoted demand, "give me liberty, or give me death!" The church is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
The Pigg River is a river in south-central Virginia in the United States. It is a tributary of the Roanoke River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean via Albemarle Sound.
Lambeg is a small village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Located between Belfast and Lisburn, it was once a small rural village, but is now within the Greater Belfast conurbation. Lambeg is also an electoral ward of Lisburn Council. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 60 people. The civil parish of Lambeg covers areas of County Down as well as County Antrim.
State Route 57 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 88.70 miles (142.75 km) from SR 8 near Woolwine east to SR 360 near Halifax. SR 57 connects the independent city of Martinsville with Chatham and Halifax, the county seats of Pittsylvania and Halifax counties, respectively. The state highway also connects the city to Fairy Stone State Park.
Sacred Heart Church in Bowie, Maryland is a Catholic Church established in 1729.
The Pittsylvania County Courthouse is located at 1 North Main Street in downtown Chatham, Virginia, USA. Built in 1853, this Greek Revival building was Pittsylvania County's third courthouse. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987, because it was the scene of events leading to Ex parte Virginia, a United States Supreme Court case extending the Equal Protection Clause to state actions such as jury selection.
Callands is an unincorporated community in Pittsylvania County, in the U.S. state of Virginia. It was named after Samuel Calland, a native of Scotland that immigrated during the 18th century, whose general store became a popular fixture of the community. The area around the store served as the county seat of Pittsylvania County until the end of 1776.
Salem Presbyterian Church is a historic Presbyterian church at E. Main and Market Streets in Salem, Virginia. It was built in 1851–1852, and is a Greek Revival style temple form church. It has a slightly projecting Ionic order portico in antis with belfry. The church owned the Salem Presbyterian Parsonage from 1854 to 1941.
First Baptist Church was a historic African-American Baptist church located in the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. It was built in 1898–1900, and was a large six-bay nave-plan brick church with Romanesque and Gothic detailing. It featured a clipped gable roof and a front bell tower. A one-story Parish Hall was built in 1936. First Baptist Church occupied the building until moving to a new sanctuary in 1982. The church was destroyed by fire in April 1995.
The original Maggoty Gap was a wind gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the counties of Roanoke, Virginia and Franklin, Virginia. Over time, as roads were improved and relocated, the identified location of the gap moved with them. It is now mapped at a spot in Roanoke County.
Samuel Calland was born in Scotland, but became an influential landowner and merchant in Colonial Virginia. The town of Callands, Virginia, is named for him.
The Reverend Richard R. Jones was a noted African-American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and orator in Roanoke, Virginia.
The Basilica of Saint Mary in the Old Town historic district, of Alexandria, Virginia, and is a minor basilica and parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Arlington in Virginia. St. Mary's Basilica is the oldest Roman Catholic church in the Commonwealth of Virginia and located in one of its oldest cities in Old Town Alexandria. It was founded in 1795 by the Very Reverend Francis Ignatius Neale, S.J., first President of Georgetown University, in present-day western Washington, D.C..
The Phoebe Needles Mission School (1902-1943) was a noted Mission school operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia in Franklin County, Virginia, near the town of Callaway, Virginia, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At the turn of the twentieth century, the Episcopal Church wanted to increase mission outreach to isolated communities within the Commonwealth. At Phoebe Needles, the Episcopal church established a small mission church, St Peter's-on-the-Mountains, and a school. The school provided free education to rural and mountain areas where the students could not go to the public schools. The Rev. William T. Roberts organized both the Episcopal mission at Phoebe Needles, as well as St. John-of-the-Mountain in Endicott, Virginia.