Old Presbyterian Meeting House
Presbyterian congregations have worshiped in Virginia since the Reverend Alexander Whittaker converted Pocahontas in Jamestown in 1614. The original version of this Presbyterian Meeting House was built in 1774. Although it wasn’t George Washington’s church, the Meeting House bell tolled continuously for 4 days after his death in December 1799, and memorial services were preached from the pulpit here by Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist ministers. According to the Alexandria paper of the day, “The walking being bad to the Episcopal church, the funeral sermon of George Washington will be preached at the Presbyterian Meeting House.” Two months later, on Washington’s birthday, Alexandria citizens marched from Market Square to the church to pay their respects.
Many famous Alexandrians are buried in the church graveyard, including John and Sarah Carlyle; Dr. James Craik (the surgeon who treated—some say killed—Washington, dressed Lafayette’s wounds at Brandywine, and ministered to the dying Braddock at Monongahela); and William Hunter, Jr., founder of the St. Andrew’s Society of Scottish descendants, to whom bagpipers pay homage on the first Saturday of December. It’s also the site of a Tomb of an Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier. Dr. James Muir, minister between 1789 and 1820, lies beneath the sanctuary in his gown and bands. The cemetery has a larger burial ground nearby that has been used since 1809.
When lightning struck and set afire most of the original Meeting House in 1835, parishioners rebuilt the church in 1837, incorporating as much as they could from the earlier structure. This is the church you see today. The present bell, said to be recast from the metal of the old one, was hung in a newly constructed belfry in 1843, and a new organ was installed in 1849. The Meeting House closed its doors in 1889 and for 60 years was used sporadically. But in 1949 it was reborn as a living Presbyterian U.S.A. church, and today the Old Meeting House looks much as it did following its first restoration. The original parsonage, or manse, is still intact. There’s no guided tour. Allow 20 minutes.
Presbyterian congregations have worshiped in Virginia since the Reverend Alexander Whittaker converted Pocahontas in Jamestown in 1614. The original version of this Presbyterian Meeting House was built in 1774. Although it wasn’t George Washington’s church, the Meeting House bell tolled continuously for 4 days after his death in December 1799, and memorial services were preached from the pulpit here by Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Methodist ministers. According to the Alexandria paper of the day, “The walking being bad to the Episcopal church, the funeral sermon of George Washington will be preached at the Presbyterian Meeting House.” Two months later, on Washington’s birthday, Alexandria citizens marched from Market Square to the church to pay their respects.
Many famous Alexandrians are buried in the church graveyard, including John and Sarah Carlyle; Dr. James Craik (the surgeon who treated—some say killed—Washington, dressed Lafayette’s wounds at Brandywine, and ministered to the dying Braddock at Monongahela); and William Hunter, Jr., founder of the St. Andrew’s Society of Scottish descendants, to whom bagpipers pay homage on the first Saturday of December. It’s also the site of a Tomb of an Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier. Dr. James Muir, minister between 1789 and 1820, lies beneath the sanctuary in his gown and bands. The cemetery has a larger burial ground nearby that has been used since 1809.
When lightning struck and set afire most of the original Meeting House in 1835, parishioners rebuilt the church in 1837, incorporating as much as they could from the earlier structure. This is the church you see today. The present bell, said to be recast from the metal of the old one, was hung in a newly constructed belfry in 1843, and a new organ was installed in 1849. The Meeting House closed its doors in 1889 and for 60 years was used sporadically. But in 1949 it was reborn as a living Presbyterian U.S.A. church, and today the Old Meeting House looks much as it did following its first restoration. The original parsonage, or manse, is still intact. There’s no guided tour. Allow 20 minutes.
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