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St. Peter's Episcopal Church, New Kent County, Virginia

St. Peter's Episcopal Church - 1703

The New World was a promising place, full of hopes and dreams of a new life in the Virginia Colonies. Settlers, though, were still subjects of the British Crown, which was represented by the Colonial Government in Williamsburg, Virginia. Each landowner became part of an Anglican Parish. The Rectors (Pastors) of these parishes and the Vestry as elected became a branch of the Colonial Government. Pastors collected taxes and held "court" in parish churches with the monies and records being forwarded to Williamsburg. Each landowner was required by law to attend church so a legal head count could be maintained for tax purposes. Failure to attend church resulted in fines that were based on the number in your household including slaves. The residents of each parish constructed the churches but the ownership of same belonged to the British Crown and the Colonial Government. Landowners also received their Grants of Land from England.

Virginia's General Court confirmed the establishment of St Peter's Parish on April 29, 1679. In the summer of 1700 the vestry ordered that a second Lower Church replace an earlier, structurally weak building known as the Broken Back'd Church. The new church, begun in 1701, was in use by July 1703. To-day it is the oldest parish church in the Diocese of Virginia and the third oldest in the Commonwealth.

Martha Dandridge, who would later become the wife of Col. George Washington, was born at Chestnut Grove on June 2, 1731. She married Col. Daniel Parke Custis, a member of the vestry and former churchwarden in June 1749. Her father, Major John Dandridge, had also served as churchwarden and vestryman, and her great-grandfather had been the first rector of nearby Bruton Parish. After eight years of marriage she was widowed with two surviving children.

On the sixth of January 1759 the Rector of St Peter's Parish, the Rev'd Mr. David Mossom, solemnized the marriage of Col. George Washington and the Widow Custis. It has always been assumed that another future First-Lady, Letitia Christian, later the wife of President John Tyler, was baptized in the parish church in 1790.

The original portion of St Peter's Parish Church is one of the few Jacobean structures in America and its 1740 stump tower is also rare. The body of the church is laid in English bond as are only three other colonial Virginia churches. In the church-yard are a number of colonial tombs, and the parish still posseses its Vestry Book (1684-1758) and Register (1685-1786).

The parish was represented by Col. William H. Macon at the first Convention of the Diocese of Virginia in 1785. From 1843 when the vestry reorganized and called the Rev'd Edwin A. Dalrymple as rector, Episcopalians and Presbyterians worshipped somewhat as one congregation until 1856 by alternating the Liturgy from Sunday to Sunday.

During the War Between the States the church was desecrated by Federal troops. General Robert E. Lee, whose wife was Mary Ann Randolph Custis -- Martha Washington's great-grandaughter -- wrote on October 23, 1869 that *St Peter's is the church where General Washington was married and attended in early life. It would be a shame to America if allowed to go to destruction. His son, General William Henry Fitzhugh Lee, superintended the work of restoring the old church, contributed needed lumber, and furnished teams and hands for the hauling.

The marble monument on the north wall of the chancel honors Parson Mossom (1690-1767), rector for forty years, who probably lies buried beneath the chancel. The three-decker pulpit, the Holy Table, the octagonal font and cover, the psalm-board, the Royal Arms, and many other furnishings in late 17th-c. style as well as service-books of the period are all reminders of the more than three centuries of witness that this parish and church have borne to the honor and glory of Christ the Lord.

In the east, on the north and south walls, are two wall monuments, and are two of the most interesting architectural features of the church. One is a monument to Parson Mossom, believed buried beneath the chancel of the church, and the other is to William Chamberlayne, who is believed to have introduced George and Martha Washington. There are thirteen known surviving church wall monuments in the entire United States: three in Massachusetts, two each in Pennsylvania and South Carolina, one in Maryland, one in North Carolina, and four in Virginia. Two of the Virginia monuments are in Bruton Parish Church, and the other two are here in St. Peter's. The Chamberlayne monument is signed by sculptor Michael Sidnell ("M. Sidnell Bristol Fecit" - made by Michael Sidnell in Bristol, England). This is believed to be the oldest signed wall monument in America.

St. Peter's Episcopal Church - 1703

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