Jamestown Church

Coordinates: 37°12′30.7″N 76°46′42.2″W / 37.208528°N 76.778389°W / 37.208528; -76.778389

Remains of the 1639 tower of the old church (photographed c. 1900)
The interior of the church as rebuilt

Jamestown Church, partially built in 1639 in Jamestown, Virginia, is one of the oldest surviving buildings built by Europeans in the original thirteen colonies that became the United States. It is part of Jamestown National Historic Site, and is owned by Preservation Virginia (formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities).

History

The first church on the site was constructed in 1617. It was in this church where the first Representative Legislative Assembly met, which convened there on July 30, 1619.[1]

Construction on the current church tower began in 1639 taking 4 years to complete. The rest of the original church was destroyed after abandonment in 1750 when a new church was built 3 miles away.[2]

Reconstruction

Next to the original 1639 tower is a church building built in the twentieth century on the cobblestone foundations of the older 1617 church and brick foundations of the 1639 church. It was designed by Edmund M. Wheelwright of Boston.[3] The present church was built by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in 1907, and the original 1617 foundations may be viewed under glass on the floor inside. The design is derived from the nearby St. Luke's Church, a similar church surviving from 1682 (though at the time thought to be 1632, thus contemporary to the Jamestown Church).

Gallery

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Jamestown Churches". National Park Service. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  2. ↑ "Jamestown Fact Sheet: Jamestown Church". Colonial National Historical Park (National Park Service). Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Wendell, Edith Greenough (12 May 1906). "The Jamestown Restoration". Boston Evening Transcript. Retrieved 6 March 2014.

External links

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