Tag: Pohick Church (Lorton VA)

Wikipedia says: Pohick Church, previously known as Pohick Episcopal Church, is an Episcopal church in the community of Lorton in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Often called the “Mother Church of Northern Virginia,” the church is notable for its association with important figures in early Virginian history such as George Washington and George Mason, both of whom served on its vestry.

The present structure was completed in 1774 and underwent significant renovations beginning in 1874 and 1890. It is two stories tall with a hipped roof and modillioned cornice, with an interior of early Colonial Revival design.

…By 1767, the Pohick vestry determined that the now-dilapidated frame structure serving the parish should be replaced. George Washington argued the need for finding a new location, believing that the new building should be more centrally located, at the intersection of the Potomac Path and the back road – today’s Telegraph Road – for the convenience of members of the congregation. George Mason, for his part, argued that the new structure should be built at the site of the old church, as the cemetery contained the graves of many family members; Washington is supposed to have responded by surveying the new location, showing that it was more convenient to most members of the parish, and presenting the results to a meeting of the vestry, whereupon Mason’s objection was dropped, although he is reported to have stalked out of the meeting, exclaiming, “That’s what gentlemen get for engaging in a debate with a damned surveyor!” The final vote was seven to five in favor of moving the site of the church. The new location was settled on, and a building committee was impaneled; its members were Washington, Mason, George William Fairfax, Daniel McCarty, and Edward Payne. Recalling the Biblical image of a “city upon a hill”, the highest point of land in the vicinity was chosen as the site of the new church.

Twenty percent of the building’s cost was raised at a 1772 auction of pews in which many local landowners participated; the remainder came from tithes and other contributions, including three annual levies on the tobacco crop. The churchyard was laid out at a meeting of the vestry, held on the future site of the church, in 1769; three acres and twenty-six perches of land were purchased, at the rate of a guinea an acre, and the deed was made by Daniel French of Rose Hill, also the first contractor of the building. French was to be paid £877 for his work, in Virginia currency.

The original plan for Pohick Church was drawn up by James Wren, and was identical to that used for both The Falls Church and Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia; however, at some point during the construction process the footprint of the church was altered to that seen today. Some sources have claimed that George Washington himself drew up the design for the building, and at least one hints that George Mason, too, might have provided input; however, records show that in March 1769 the vestry paid James Wren and William West for the church plans. Construction was initially overseen by the planter Daniel French of Rose Hill, a member of the congregation. He died before completion of the building works, and oversight passed to William Buckland, who was also involved in the building of Gunston Hall nearby, and who may have participated in the decoration of the church interior as well; it is possible that Buckland took over the work at the instigation of his employer, George Mason, who had assumed many of French’s debts and obligations at the latter’s death. Much of the original woodwork in the building was executed by master carver William Bernard Sears, a longtime associate of Buckland’s who was also attached to Gunston Hall, likely in indenture to Mason, and is known to have worked at Mount Vernon as well. The account presented by him for his services survives, and indicates that he was paid £58:19:0 for his craft. Plans for the church complex also called for the installation of mounting blocks and six benches in the churchyard, so that people could sit under the trees, and for the area to be cleared of all rubbish and litter. Washington’s records indicate that he took an interest in furnishing the new church; besides paying William Copan for carving ciphers on both his pew and that of his neighbor Fairfax, he fitted his own pew with drawers, and also paid for a latch and a door for the church building.

An early plan describing the initial disposition and ownership of pews in the building was copied by Benson Lossing and republished by him in 1859; the original is currently unlocated. A 1774 entry in the church vestry book assigns an unusual order to four of the pews, stating: “Ordered that the Upper Pew in the new Church adjoining the South Wall be appropriated to the Use of the Magistrates and Strangers, and the Pew opposite thereto to the use of their Wives, and the two Pews next below them be appropriated to the Vestrymen and Merchants and their Wives, in like manner.” The two most notable pewholders were George Mason and George Washington; other pews were kept by William Triplett, George William Fairfax, Alexander Henderson, Lund Washington (cousin of George), John Manley, Martin Cockburn, and Daniel McCarty. The eight pews located in the west end of the church were set aside for “Inhabitants and House Keepers of the Parish”.

Construction of the church building was completed in 1774, just before the start of the American Revolutionary War. Early discussions of the Fairfax Resolves took place at the site in that year; among those in attendance at the meetings were George Washington and George Mason, and Rector Massey was among the signatories at their adoption. William Grayson is said to have been a member of the congregation in these years as well, and he is recorded as having served as an attorney for Truro Parish on numerous occasions.

Early Federal period

With the Religious Freedom Act of 1785, the Virginia General Assembly formally disestablished the Church of England. Many former Anglican turned Episcopal churches, fell into decline, including Pohick Church. It remained active; Mason Weems, better known as a biographer of George Washington, preached at the church off and on from around 1798 until at least 1817, and styled himself as the “formerly rector” of the congregation, though this was likely an exaggeration. Another fixture at the church was Reverend Charles O’Neill, remembered chiefly for having been presented with a used suit of Washington’s clothes, which he would wear while preaching, although it did not fit him well; he was held to be quite popular among local families.

Little else is known of the history of the structure from 1777 to 1836, although the vestry book records that George Washington resigned from the vestry in 1782, and that Rector Massey ceased his regular duties shortly thereafter due to ill health. Furthermore, Washington is known to have stopped attending regular services at Pohick by this time, having instead shifted his attention to Christ Church in Alexandria as his preferred house of worship; even so, he kept up payments on his pew at the church, and purchased that of his cousin Lund as well. In 1801 John Davis wrote a surviving account of a service at Pohick Church; it indicates that at the time of his visit approximately half the congregation was white and half black. Davis also attended a number of services preached by Weems, and found them well-attended.

Oral tradition indicates that Pohick Church was targeted by the British during the War of 1812 for its association with George Washington. One of the parishioners had carved a wooden dove, gilded it, and placed it on Washington’s former pew, although some accounts state instead that it was affixed to the pulpit. According to the story, the sculpture was decapitated by a British soldier who also removed its wings, and was then thrown into the church courtyard, whence it was later retrieved. It was returned to the family of the sculptor, a Mr. Bowie, and passed down among his descendants before being returned to the congregation in 1988. It is on display in the parish house of the church. Otherwise, it is recorded that the interior of the building remained largely intact until the time of the American Civil War.

American Civil War

By 1860, conditions at Pohick Church had deteriorated to such a state that it is unclear whether or not the building remained a consecrated house of worship at the dawn of the American Civil War. With its proximity to Washington, D.C., the building was quickly embroiled in the fighting that rocked Northern Virginia. although in that year a plan was formed by a clergyman from Fairfax, Reverend R. T. Brown, to return the building to active service, a plan which was quashed by the beginning of the conflict. The 2nd Michigan Volunteers, under the command of General Samuel P. Heintzelman, raided the church on November 12, 1861. Lieutenant Charles B. Haydon was outraged at the men’s behavior, describing it thus:

At 8½ A.M. we reached the church 12 miles out. Pohick Church is a brick building built in 1773. Gen. Washington contributed to building it & was a frequent attendant. It has a very ancient look & one would suppose that it might be sacred enough to be secure. I have long known that the Mich 2nd had no fear or reverence as a general thing for God or the places where he is worshiped but I had hoped that the memory of Gen. Washington might protect almost anything with which it was associated. I believe our soldiers would have torn the church down in 2 days. They were all over it in less than 10 minutes tearing off the ornaments, splitting the woodwork and pews, knocking the brick to pieces & everything else they could get at. They wanted pieces to carry away … A more absolute set of vandals than our men can not be found on the face of the earth. As true as I am living I believe they would steal Washington’s coffin if they could get to it.

Private Robert Sneden visited the church in January 1862. He painted a watercolor of the encampments around the building and described its condition in his journal:

We reached Pohick Church about 4 pm in a snow storm … It was a substantial two story brick structure with white marble, quoins and trimmings and old colonial gambrel roof … Here Washington attended service, with all the old first families of the time … He drove from Mount Vernon to church in his coach with four horses, tandem fashion as did the others. Now the church was in ruinous condition. Windows were all broken out, doors gone, pews nearly gone, being used for firewood by our pickets. The ceilings broken by the rain coming through the roof, walls discolored black by smoke, etc. The mahogany pulpit was half cut away and carried off for relics, while the cornerstones had been unearthed and the contents carried off. Washington had lain this stone in 1765 [sic] and the soldiers who got it out must have found valuable relics. There was not much left for the relic hunters now even the sconces and door knobs and hinges were gone.

Confederate General J. Johnston Pettigrew also recorded visiting Pohick Church in his wartime journal.

Thaddeus S. C. Lowe soon took over the church as a base of operations, and a garrison stationed at the site began to use the building as quarters. The men left graffiti behind on the church doorposts, quoins, and walls; much of it is still visible today, as are bullet holes in the exterior walls. From this location Lowe repeatedly launched his balloon, Intrepid, to track Confederate troop movements along the Occoquan River, and here he saw the earliest successes of his short-lived Federal Balloon Corps. The church was used as a stable by Union forces during the winter of 1862–63, during which time the interior was stripped of everything save the upper cornice. Some of this damage was documented by Mathew Brady in a photograph taken in 1862.

Skirmishes are known to have taken place in the vicinity of the church throughout the war; the area was officially neutral ground, but was populated by guerrillas attempting to disrupt local military operations. Jacob Erwin of Company C of the 1st New York Cavalry, killed in one such action, is believed to have been the first volunteer cavalryman of the Army of the Potomac to have been killed during the conflict.

Robert E. Lee is recorded as having been a member of the congregation at some time during this period of its history.