page_title: Pohick Church
section_title: Early Federal period
hierarchical_section_title: Pohick Church / History / Early Federal period
caption_attribution_description: English: Sketch of w:Pohick Church dating to c. 1830, drawn by one of the children of George Mason
context_page_description: 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. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
context_section_description: 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.
  William Meade, later to become Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, visited the church in the summer of 1837, and described what he had seen in an address made the following year:
  My next visit was to Pohick Church, in the vicinity of Mt. Vernon, the seat of General Washington. It was still raining when I approached the house, and found no one there. The wide open doors invited me to enter, as they do invite, day and night through the year, not only the passing traveller, but every beast of the field and fowl of the air. These latter however seemed to have reverenced the house of God, since few marks of their pollution were to be seen throughout it. The interior of the house, having been well built, is still good. The chancel, Communion table and tables of the law &c. are still there and in good order. The roof only is decaying; and at the time I was there the rain was dropping on these sacred places and on other parts of the house. On the doors of the pews, in gilt letters, are still to be seen the names of the principal Families which once occupied them. How could I, while for at least an hour traversing those long aisles, ascending the lofty pulpit, entering the sacred chancel, forbear to ask, And is this the House of God which was built by the Washingtons, the Mc.Cartys, the Lewises, the Fairfaxes?—the house in which they used to worship the God of our fathers according to the venerable forms of the Episcopal Church, and some of whose names are still to be seen on the doors of those now deserted pews? Is this also destined to moulder piecemeal away, or, when some signal is given, to become the prey of spoilers, and to be carried hither and thither and applied to every purpose unde
caption: Sketch of the church dating to c. 1830, drawn by one of the children of George Mason
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