The History of Lynnhaven Parish, Virginia 

We don’t know why or how the site for Church Two was chosen, known as "the Brick Church," but it made for a short move, less than a mile upstream on the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven River. The river flows South to North so the new site is actually South of Church Point. At that time the Western Branch was navigable between the two locations.

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The site for Church Two was two acres, part of a large one-hundred acre tract of land owned by Ebenezer Taylor. It was customary for colonial churches to be built on land that was not deeded for years later and that’s exactly what happened with Church Two. Taylor allowed the church to be built postponing the deed to the vestry for two years. It was recorded in 1694 and specified the land as two acres “whereon the new brick church of Lynnhaven now stands.”

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There are no church records documenting the vestry’s order for Church Two. However, Princess Anne County Order Book One contains the agreement between the vestry and Mr. Jacob Johnson for the construction of “a good and Substantiall [sic] Brick Church” for the Parish of Lynnhaven. Though dated April 1, 1691, the agreement was not recorded until September 9, 1698.

 

The agreement contained complete specifications for the church. The interior was to be 45 feet long by 22 feet wide, and 13 feet high. There were to be brick gables on each end of the roof ridge and a 10x10-foot brick porch. The arched roof was to be built of substantial good framework and covered with good oak boards, and the interior sealed with oak “sealing” boards. The ceiling interior was to be covered with white lime. Large windows, with good glass and appropriate for the size of the church were to be installed on the North and South sides, and on the East end of the church. Two rows of pews were to run from the door all the way to the chancel and alter. Those closest to the chancel were to have wainscotting, a decorative, carved paneling. The chancel had benches which provided seating for poor parishioners. Finally, the entire interior of the church was to be plastered and “whited” and a pulpit placed on the North side.

 

A careful read of the vestry’s agreement with Mr. Johnson provides insight into Church One. It compares the projected cost of Church Two to what was spent on Church One, including all its repairs and maintenance. The price of the new church was equal to the quantity of tobacco levied for and spent building, repairing, and maintaining “the Old Church now standing from its first beginning to this day.” It also authorized Johnson to use whatever parts of the old church he found fit for the new building. These notes indicate that Church One was still standing, and not under water, when Church Two was being built. The congregation left because the building was breaking down, not because they were flooded out.

 

The vestry must have been tough negotiators because the contract with Mr. Johnson required him to complete “the new brick church” no later than the end of June 1692 – allowing him only 15 months. If he failed he faced the heavy penalty of 100,000 pounds of tobacco! We know Mr. Johnson met this deadline because a 1692 Princess Anne County court order required the county’s first courthouse be built near the “new church.” It's certain Church Two, often called “the little brick church,” opened its doors in 1692.

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THE COURTHOUSE

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Church Two didn’t stand alone for long. Within a year parishioners watched as a courthouse was constructed right next door on their two-acre plot. It was the first courthouse for the brand-new Princess Anne County. Princess Anne was carved out of Lower Norfolk County in 1691. In keeping with the colonial custom of locating churches and courthouses on adjoining sites on September 12th 1695 Princess Anne County ordered its own courthouse be built on “the land belonging to the Brick Church.” The county may have been brand new, but the courthouse was not. Most of the timber used to build it was taken from the then-existing courthouse on the Eastern Shore of the Lynnhaven River, located near the South end of the Great Neck peninsula. That courthouse had been built to serve Lower Norfolk County only six years before, in 1689. The timber was shipped up the river to the new site next to Church Two. The church and the courthouse did business side-by-side for forty-one years.

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CHURCH TWO THRIVES

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As the 18th century progressed Church Two began it grow – quickly! It was a time of increased population in the colony and the congregation was outgrowing the little church. It also suffered a lot of wear and tear and on November 16, 1724 the vestry wrote that they intended to repair the roof on the South side. However, after examining it they saw that it was “so rotten and unsound” that they decided to tear the roof down and put up a new one. They agreed to pay Mr. George Smyth six pounds, fifteen schillings to do the work. Perhaps that was money wasted because a few years later in 1733 they decided it was time to build a new church. Indeed, on August 11, 1733 the vestry ordered the new church be built – but at Ferry Plantation, not where it now sits. The record doesn’t say why the vestry first decided on Ferry Plantation other than they considered it a “fit and Convenient place to set a new church,” but their selection may have been driven by a desire to maintain a close relationship with the county courthouse. In 1730 land had been deeded to the county “in order that a courthouse may be there erected” so the choice makes sense.

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The vestry wasted no time. At the same meeting four vestrymen were ordered to find “some Person” to make 60,000 bricks for the church. They also set the dimensions at 65 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 15’ high on the inside. The walls were to be three bricks thick from the foundation down to the water table. These dimensions are considerably larger than Church Two, indicating that one reason to build a new church was because the congregation needed more space.

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It didn’t take long for the vestry to change their minds and abandon the Ferry Plantation location. Three months later, on November 13, the vestry decided that the new church would be built and placed “where the old one now stands… .” Mr. Peter Malbon was hired to construct the church.

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But they didn’t build it “where the old one now stands.” Church Three was constructed next to the existing church (Church Two) not in its place. This could only have been possible if the courthouse next door was gone when construction began. And indeed it was gone. As the new Princess Anne County courthouse at Ferry Plantation was nearing completion, the courthouse by the church was being taken down, opening up space on the two-acre property. That Church Two and the courthouse were located together is substantiated by a series of Princess Anne County court orders. One order, in response to Samuell Sheppard’s request to build a school house, grant him permission with the caveat that “he build the same as far as he can from the Church and Court House.” Vestry records confirm that Church Two remained in service during removal of the court house and through the construction of Church Three.

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THE SCHOOL

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Though it was too small for the growing congregation and needed repairs, Church Two was destined for another important mission: a school. The need for a school in the area was documented as far back as 1712 when Samuell Sheppard asked for and received permission to build a school on the courthouse land for “the Common Benefitt.” But it appears Mr. Sheppard never actually built the school because four years later on March 6, 1716 a court order granted permission to Peter Taylor to “keep Schoole in the Court house and jury room.” They called it a “reasonable and usual practice” indicating that teaching school in the court house was to be an ongoing practice. Twenty years later when the congregation moved to the brand new Church Three the vestry was quick to realize the old 1692 church structure was a much better solution for a school.

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Though the vestry designated the structure to be a school in 1736/7, there is no evidence of subsequent funding or the employment of a teacher until the end of the colonial period. George Carrington Mason, who transcribed the vestry record, notes that the “Lynnhaven vestry’s only recorded project of this sort [schooling for poor children] was not undertaken until the close of the colonial era, and then only as a result of a generous bequest to the parish by its last colonial rector, the Reverend Robert Dickson.”

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That bequest is found in Robert Dickson’s will dated September 9, 1774. In it, Dickson directed that all of his slaves and estate other than that going to his widow and his sisters in Scotland, be sold and the money go to the Vestry of Lynnhaven Parish. They were to hire a teacher of Latin and Greek and mathematics to teach the “poor Male Orphan Children” of the parish and county. He also stipulated that the vestry supply the “poor Orphan Children” with books and other supplies. Dickson’s will does not say if the money was going to an existing school, or if it was intended to establish a new one. The will was proved in court, allowing assets to be distributed on February 16, 1777. The school became known as “Dickson’s Free School” and the money from the will as “Dickson’s Donation.”

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There is no record saying what the Church Two building was used for from the time the congregation moved out in 1736 until Dickson’s Free School started, forty-one years later in 1777, or if it was used at all. It’s also unclear where children were being schooled during that time as the dual-purpose courthouse had been removed. The Vestry didn’t advertise for a school master until March 1780 and the first candidate, George Stephanson, wasn’t hired until the following December. The Vestry included the use of the Dickson plantation to sweeten the offer to Mr. Stephanson.

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At a meeting at Kempsville, March 16, 1785 the Vestry hired Reverend Charles Pettigrew as a parish minister and school master.

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On April 7, 1794, seven years after the congregation left abandoned Church Three, the Emmanuel Church Vestry ordered Dickson’s school moved to Kempsville.