St. George's Church | |
Location | VA 178, NE of jct. with VA 180, Pungoteague, Virginia |
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Coordinates | 37°38′2″N75°48′40″W / 37.63389°N 75.81111°W |
Area | 9.9 acres (4.0 ha) |
Built | 1738, 1880 |
Architectural style | Georgian |
NRHP reference No. | 70000781 [1] |
VLR No. | 001-0040 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 15, 1970 |
Designated VLR | June 2, 1970 [2] |
St. George's Church is a historic Episcopal Church on VA 178, northeast of the junction with VA 180 in Pungoteague, Accomack County, Virginia. Established in the seventeenth century, the building, erected in 1738, is the oldest house of worship standing on Virginia's Eastern Shore. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The Anglican (Episcopal) faith was brought to Virginia's Eastern Shore by English settlers migrating across the Chesapeake Bay from the Jamestown Settlement beginning in the 1620s. King Debedeavon had welcomed English traders and even settlers, and the English established a courthouse and Hungars Parish Church (1643) further down the coast in what became Eastville, Virginia. Chapels of ease (some of which later became parish churches when population warranted) were established near other settlements by the end of the seventeenth century. One near a Native American village that later became Pungoteague, became the predecessor to the present St. George's Church. Accomack Parish was created in 1663, and laid out in its present form in 1761. The first church to occupy the site, likely constructed of logs or frame, was standing by 1678.
In the mid-1730s, construction of a new church at Pungoteague began. The building, completed around 1738, was among the most elaborate in the Colony of Virginia. However, the Church of England (which reorganized after the Revolution as the Episcopal Church) was disestablished in Virginia early in the 19th century. Priests no longer could count on government support of their salaries, and soon the farms (glebes) which provided part of their salaries were privatized. Many fell into ruin, but some were repaired mid-century as the local economy improved. St. George's Church still preserves a silver communion service inscribed "This belongs to the Parish of Accomack" dated 1734–5. During the American Civil War, the Union Army occupied the Eastern Shore (Delmarva Peninsula) from Hampton Roads northwards. Union troops protecting a strategic telephone line camped nearby, and housed their horses in the church's box pews, which were heavily damaged. By the end of the Civil War, St. George's Church stood in ruin, one of its four wings completely dismantled and all interior furnishing destroyed. Episcopalians reclaimed the church in 1880 and partially restored it by using the remnants of the original walls to patch the transept which still stands today. [3]
Designed in Georgian style, St. George's Church was originally cruciform in shape with a communion table oriented to the east, box pews, an elevated pulpit, and a semi-circular apse (common in Georgian Churches in Maryland, but not in Virginia). The entire building was topped with a hipped, gambrel roof, also a unique feature among Virginia's Georgian churches. Though only a fragment remains today, the church's brickwork was especially well-executed using flemish bond accented by glazed headers. The only known image of the structure's original design is a sketch made by Reverend James Wallace Eastburn in 1819.
The church is still active in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. The Rev. Cameron Randle is rector of the churches of St. George's parish, which also includes nearby historic St. James Church in Accomac, Virginia. [4]
Accomack County is a United States county located in the eastern edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Together, Accomack and Northampton counties make up the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which in turn is part of the Delmarva Peninsula, bordered by the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Accomac is the county seat.
Accomac is a town in and the county seat of Accomack County, Virginia, United States. The population was 526 at the 2020 census.
Painter is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, United States. The population was recorded at 229 at the 2010 census.
The Eastern Shore of Virginia is the easternmost region of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It consists of two counties on the Atlantic coast. It is detached from the mainland of Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay. The 70-mile-long (110 km) region is part of the Delmarva Peninsula. Its population was 45,695 as of 2020.
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State Route 178 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. The state highway runs 11.51 miles (18.52 km) from U.S. Route 13 Business in Exmore north to SR 620, SR 628, and SR 718 at Bobtown. SR 178 connects Exmore in far northern Northampton County with Belle Haven and Pungoteague in southern Accomack County.
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Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia is the diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America located in the southeast area of Virginia. It is in Province III. The diocese includes the Hampton Roads area, Richmond south of the James River, most of the region known as Southside Virginia, and both Northampton and Accomack Counties of the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
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Pungoteague is a census-designated place (CDP) in Accomack County, Virginia, United States. It was first listed as a CDP in 2010. Per the 2020 census, the population was 346.
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Shepherd's Plain, also known as Melrose, is a historic home located near Pungoteague, Accomack County, Virginia. It was built between 1755 and 1775, and is a two-story, five bay rectangular Georgian-style dwelling with brick ends with interior end chimneys and frame fronts. It measures 39 feet by 54 feet, and has a gable roof. The interior has a central passage plan and features notable paneling in the formal parlor. It was built for Edward Ker, a prominent Accomack County planter and politician.
Accomac Historic District is a national historic district located at Accomac, Accomack County, Virginia. The district encompasses 158 contributing buildings in the town of Accomac, mainly grouped into two periods of construction. From its founding in 1786 through the second quarter of the nineteenth century, several residential, commercial, governmental, and religious structures were built in the core of Accomac, representing both high-style and vernacular examples of late Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival styles. Notable structures surviving from this period include the rectory of St. George's Episcopal Parish ; the Seymour House (1791-1815); Roseland (1750-1850); Seven Gables (1786-1905); Rural Hill, and the Francis Makemie Presbyterian Church (1840). The second period of construction reflected in the town dates to the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when the arrival of the New York, Philadelphia, and Norfolk Railroad spawned renewed growth and economic prosperity in Accomack County following the Civil War. These buildings also display both high-style and vernacular expressions of Victorian Era styles, including Second Empire, Italianate, Gothic Revival, and Romanesque. Notable structures from this time period include Bayly Memorial Hall, the County Clerk's Office (1887), the Accomack County Courthouse (1899), and houses found in the Lilliston Avenue extension of the town built in the 1880s-1890s. There are also contributing structures dating from the first quarter of the twentieth century, including the Drummondtown Baptist Church (1914), Drummondtown United Methodist Church (1920), and the former hotel at the town square (1925).
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Susie May Ames was a twentieth century American historian, educator, and author. She conducted research on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the colonial period.