Grace Church of Kilmarnock, Lancaster County,

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, is the largest rural Episcopal

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

in the Commonwealth.

History

The original brick building, the town's first church and now a chapel attached to the current church, was consecrated by assistant bishop

John Johns John Johns (July 10, 1796 – April 5, 1876) was the fourth Episcopal bishop of Virginia. He led his diocese into secession and during the American Civil War and later tried to heal it through the Reconstruction Era. Johns also served as Pres ...

in 1852. At that and some other times, Grace Church shared a single rector with historic Christ Church (founded 1670), St. Mary's Church Whitechapel (founded 1669), and/or Trinity Church in Lancaster. The current sanctuary was dedicated by Bishop Goodwin in 1959, and an arcade connects it with the old church, now a chapel. In 1988, Bishop

Peter James Lee Peter James Lee (11 May 1938 - 2 July 2022) was an American bishop of the Episcopal Church. Ministry Lee, a former newspaper reporter, was ordained deacon in 1967 and priest in 1968. He served as deacon at St John's Cathedral in Jacksonville, ...

consecrated the enlarged Grace House. Further expansion occurred in 2002. In 2017, the church building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

.Weekly List

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

, 2017-06-09. Accessed 2017-09-10.

References

{{coord, 37.70648, -76.37930, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-VA, display=title Episcopal churches in Virginia Churches completed in 1852 Churches in Lancaster County, Virginia 19th-century Episcopal church buildings 1852 establishments in Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Lancaster County, Virginia