At the turn of the nineteenth century, Ca Ira was a typical small farming community such as could be found in many locations around Virginia.
 It was formally established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1796; the origin of the name is unknown, but given the spirit of the times, and the fact that many Virginians admired the French Revolution, it is suspected to have been derived from a popular French song of the era.
 By 1836, Ca Ira could be described as a post village, with a population of 210; it had forty dwellings, three stores, a mill, a tobacco warehouse, two taverns, and a Masonic hall.


Construction of Grace Church was begun in 1840; the original deed to its location was described in the Cumberland County Deed Book of 1843 as 
a certain lot or parcel or ground adjoining the town of Ca Ira on the West, and bounded as follows.
Orig.
on the South by the Main road from
Ca Ira to Buckingham Ct.
House, West by the line separating it from McAshan's Old Stemmery Lot, on which the fence now runs North by the road leading into said stemmery and, East by the Western Crop Street of the town of Ca Ira, it

being the lot, as now enclosed whereon the New Episcopal Church, called Grace Church, has been recently erected, containing about two thirds of an acre, together with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging.

  Immediately upon its completion, it began serving not only the populace of the town itself but also those families, many prominent in local affairs, that owned the surrounding plantations.
 Among those known to be part of the congregation of the church was Valentine Parrish, who not only donated the land on which it stood, but served as the builder for the project.
 The architect was Dabney Cosby, who had worked with Thomas Jefferson on the construction of buildings at the University of Virginia.
 This was not the first time that Cosby and Parrish had worked together; the two were listed together as co-architects on the cornerstone of the 1826 Goochland County Courthouse in nearby Goochland.
 Parrish was among the most prominent citizens in Cumberland County in the years leading up to the Civil War; he presented numerous petitions on the subject of local tolls to the Virginia General Assembly, and also made numerous suggestions regarding the distribution of economic aid to the county.
 Woodwork and framing on the church is said to have been the work of one Albert Mann, a slave attached to the Parrish plantation; construction of the church was overseen by Rev. Henry Kinckle.

With the completion of Grace Church in 1843 the town received its largest and most distinguished building to date.
 The church also revived the fortunes of Littleton parish, which surrounded the town but which had been inactive since 1813.
 An 1857 report from Bishop William Meade indicated that the structure was "in constant use".
 Even so, although Ca Ira had continued to rise in importance through the 1850s, at one point incorporating its first and only bank, by the postbellum years it had begun losing population, and shrank rapidly during the last decades of the nineteenth century.
 The church was not spared, and was abandoned along with most other structures during this period; a 1906 entry in the Lippincott World Gazetteer mentioned its presence among a handful of other buildings, mainly shops.
 The rehabilitation of the structure began in 1928, when descendants of members of the initial congregation organized the Ca Ira Restoration Society; this organization was dedicated to raising funds to restore the building, which was soon accomplished.
 The Society also blocked an attempt by the diocese to sell the property, and in 1954 reinstituted an annual series of "homecoming services" in continuation of a tradition begun in the 1930s.
 Today, Grace Church is preserved in working order as a shrine of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia; to keep its status as such, it is required to host at least one religious service yearly.

The church was surveyed as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey sometime after 1933.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, Ca Ira was a typical small farming community such as could be found in many locations around Virginia.  It was formally established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1796; the origin of the name is unknown, but given the spirit of the times, and the fact that many Virginians admired the French Revolution, it is suspected to have been derived from a popular French song of the era.  By 1836, Ca Ira could be described as a post village, with a population of 210; it had forty dwellings, three stores, a mill, a tobacco warehouse, two taverns, and a Masonic hall.

Construction of Grace Church was begun in 1840; the original deed to its location was described in the Cumberland County Deed Book of 1843 as 
a certain lot or parcel or ground adjoining the town of Ca Ira on the West, and bounded as follows. Orig. on the South by the Main road from
Ca Ira to Buckingham Ct. House, West by the line separating it from McAshan's Old Stemmery Lot, on which the fence now runs North by the road leading into said stemmery and, East by the Western Crop Street of the town of Ca Ira, it

being the lot, as now enclosed whereon the New Episcopal Church, called Grace Church, has been recently erected, containing about two thirds of an acre, together with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging.
  Immediately upon its completion, it began serving not only the populace of the town itself but also those families, many prominent in local affairs, that owned the surrounding plantations.  Among those known to be part of the congregation of the church was Valentine Parrish, who not only donated the land on which it stood, but served as the builder for the project.  The architect was Dabney Cosby, who had worked with Thomas Jefferson on the construction of buildings at the University of Virginia.  This was not the first time that Cosby and Parrish had worked together; the two were listed together as co-architects on the cornerstone of the 1826 Goochland County Courthouse in nearby Goochland.  Parrish was among the most prominent citizens in Cumberland County in the years leading up to the Civil War; he presented numerous petitions on the subject of local tolls to the Virginia General Assembly, and also made numerous suggestions regarding the distribution of economic aid to the county.  Woodwork and framing on the church is said to have been the work of one Albert Mann, a slave attached to the Parrish plantation; construction of the church was overseen by Rev. Henry Kinckle.
With the completion of Grace Church in 1843 the town received its largest and most distinguished building to date.  The church also revived the fortunes of Littleton parish, which surrounded the town but which had been inactive since 1813.  An 1857 report from Bishop William Meade indicated that the structure was "in constant use".  Even so, although Ca Ira had continued to rise in importance through the 1850s, at one point incorporating its first and only bank, by the postbellum years it had begun losing population, and shrank rapidly during the last decades of the nineteenth century.  The church was not spared, and was abandoned along with most other structures during this period; a 1906 entry in the Lippincott World Gazetteer mentioned its presence among a handful of other buildings, mainly shops.  The rehabilitation of the structure began in 1928, when descendants of members of the initial congregation organized the Ca Ira Restoration Society; this organization was dedicated to raising funds to restore the building, which was soon accomplished.  The Society also blocked an attempt by the diocese to sell the property, and in 1954 reinstituted an annual series of "homecoming services" in continuation of a tradition begun in the 1930s.  Today, Grace Church is preserved in working order as a shrine of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia; to keep its status as such, it is required to host at least one religious service yearly.
The church was surveyed as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey sometime after 1933.
Grace Church (Ca Ira, Virginia)