Trinity Episcopal Church is an Episcopal parish established in 1774 by the Reverend Nathaniel Blount in

Chocowinity, North Carolina Chocowinity is a town in Beaufort County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 820 at the 2010 Census. The town is a part of the Washington Area located in North Carolina's Coastal Plains region. History The meaning of the name Cho ...

, U.S..

History

In 1773, Nathaniel Blount sailed from

Bath, NC Bath is a town in Beaufort County, North Carolina, United States. Located on the Pamlico River, it developed a trade in naval stores, furs, and tobacco. The population was 249 as of 2010. North Carolina’s first town and port of entry, it w ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to be ordained a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. The

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

ordained Mr. Blount to the priesthood in

Saint Paul's Cathedral, London St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. Upon his return to Bath, "Parson Blount," as he was known, had a church built. Giles Shute and John Herrington served as

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

s, according to a signed wooden panel in the sanctuary. The little building became known as Blount's Chapel. In 1826, the Right Rev'd

John Stark Ravenscroft John Stark Ravenscroft (May 17, 1772 – March 5, 1830) was the first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and helped organize the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee. Early life Ravenscroft was born in 1772 on his family plantation near ...

consecrated the building as Trinity Church, a parish in the

Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina is a diocese of the Episcopal Church within Province IV that encompasses central North Carolina. Founded in 1817, the modern boundaries of the diocese roughly corresponds to the portion of North Carolina ...

. During the 19th century, the Grimes family were active in this parish. The Grimes held large tracts of land in

Beaufort Beaufort may refer to: People and titles * Beaufort (surname) * House of Beaufort, English nobility * Duke of Beaufort (England), a title in the peerage of England * Duke of Beaufort (France), a title in the French nobility Places Polar regions ...

and Pitt Counties. The nearby town of Grimesland was named for them. Major General

Bryan Grimes Bryan Grimes (November 2, 1828 – August 14, 1880) was a North Carolina planter and a general officer in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He fought in nearly all of the major battles of the Eastern Theater of that war. G ...

of the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

was a member of the parish. The parish's centennial in 1874 was marked by the addition of a formal

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and sanctuary with

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows. In 1883, Trinity Church became part of the

Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina The Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States that covers most of eastern North Carolina. The diocese was formed from the existing Diocese of North Carolina on October 9, 1883, by action of the ...

, following the subdivision of the Diocese of North Carolina. During the first half of the 20th century, the Rev'd N. C. Hughes, Jr, Trinity's rector, was influential in encouraging Chocowinity's citizens to retain the name of their town. There were citizens who desired to change the name. Belview was one of the names considered. Hughes is also credited with learning the meaning of the name of the town from an Indian in

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

who offered a translation, "fish from many waters." By keeping this Indian word, the town has retained a unique name for itself.Town of Chocowinity website
/ref> In 1939, the church building was moved on log rollers drawn by horses from its original location to a plot of land owned by the parish. The

parish hall A church hall or parish hall is a room or building associated with a church, generally for community and charitable use.

(built ca 1900) already stood on this site, and the church was placed alongside that building. A two-story addition was built in 1949 to provide room for

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

office An office is a space where an Organization, organization's employees perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize objects and Goals, plans, action theory, goals of the organizati ...

s, a

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a ...

, and general purpose space. The historic

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

has remained in continuous use since it was built in 1774. Trinity Church is located at 182 NC Hwy 33 West in Chocowinity.

Trinity Episcopal Cemetery

In the mid-19th century, land was given to the parish to serve as a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

. Many notable town leaders and Beaufort County citizens were buried therein, including

Revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

and

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

veterans. Penelope and Aspley Grist (sisters) donated further tracts of land to expand the cemetery. The Major General

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

was erected in the center of the cemetery in his memory and has remained a popular site for Civil War enthusiasts and historians to visit. The cemetery has continued to serve the parish and community to the present day. In August 2011, the cemetery was added to 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 v ...

List of Priests and Deacons

* The Rev'd Nathaniel Blount * The Rev'd Israel Harding * The Rev'd Nathaniel Harding * The Rev'd Nicholas Collin Hughes * The Rev'd Nicholas Collin Hughes, Jr. (later served as Archdeacon of Raleigh) * The Rev'd Alexander C. D. Noe * The Rev'd Charles Malone * The Rev'd Samuel Black * The Rev'd James Alves * The Rev'd Richard Ottaway * The Rev'd Fred Ferris * The Rev'd Kenneth Townsend * The Rev'd Irwin Hulbert * The Rev'd Jeremiah Day * The Rev'd Lawrence P. Houston * The Rev'd William Bomar Etters * The Rev'd Michael C. Nation * The Rev'd James Cooke * The Rev'd J. M. Browne, III Deacons * The Rev'd Deacon Susan Moody DuVal * The Venerable Joy Morgan Dosher

History

Trinity Episcopal Cemetery

List of Priests and Deacons

References

Further reading