Old Chapel (Millwood, Virginia)
|
Old Chapel
|
|
Old Chapel, September 2012
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | 3 mi. N of Millwood off U.S. 340, Millwood, Virginia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°6′24″N 78°0′54″W / 39.10667°N 78.01500°WCoordinates: 39°6′24″N 78°0′54″W / 39.10667°N 78.01500°W |
| Area | 9.9 acres (4.0 ha) |
| Built | 1793 |
| NRHP Reference # | 73002004 |
| VLR # | 021-0058 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 2, 1973 |
| Designated VLR | November 21, 1972 |
Old Chapel is a historic Episcopal church building located near Millwood, Clarke County, Virginia. Old Chapel is now the oldest Episcopal church building still in use west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 2014, the Chapel Rural Historic District was recognized, and which encompasses both Cunningham parish churches, discussed below, as well as approximately 700 other structures and an area of nearly 10,500 acres.
In the 18th century it was known as Cunningham's Chapel for the tavern located nearby at the location of two historic roads—the Old Dutch Wagon Road westward from Alexandria to Frederick, Maryland and the Ohio River Valley (what in the Federal period became the National Road now route 340) and the shorter east-west highway from Burwell's mill in Millwood (now numbered 255).
The original log church authorized by the Virginia General Assembly (when it created the large Frederick Parish with several auxiliary chapels of ease) in 1738 was built some time between 1740 and 1750 (the slow building process led to accusations of malfeasance and litigation before the General Court in Williamsburg). It was reroofed and renovated in 1762, but destroyed during the American Revolutionary War.
The current building was authorized in 1790 and completed circa 1793. It was the home parish of Bishop William Meade, who for a time served under Frederick Parish's longtime rector, Rev. Alexander Balmain (of Scotland and later Winchester, Virginia). Meade served as the priest in charge here for 25 years (and effectively moved the parish's headquarters here upon Rev. Balmain's death), although he secured construction of Christ Church in Millwood (as discussed below) around the time of his consecration as assistant bishop of Virginia, and a successor was soon hired for the parish. As a plaque inside relates, Bishop Meade expected to be buried here, but he died in Richmond, Virginia, and was initially buried at the Hollywood, and his remains later moved to the cemetery of Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.
...
Wikipedia