White Post, Clarke County, Virginia

This was our first gallivant into Clarke County and we were most impressed with our visit to White Post. Our early research definitely piqued our interest, and we were not disappointed. The village of White Post, Virginia definitely has a deep historic significance. Located in southwestern Clarke County, the peculiar name of the town stems from a marker we could not miss as we entered the village. The white marker at the crossroads is the point from which the village took it’s shape. It was Thomas, Lord Fairfax, that erected the post in the 1760s to point the way to Greenway Court, the nearby estate from which he managed his vast proprietary holdings.

Thomas Fairfax, sixth Baron Fairfax of Cameron (1693-1781), was the proprietor of a five-million-acre grant of northern Virginia lands inherited from his mother, daughter of Lord Culpeper. Fairfax set up residence at Greenway Court in 1752 in order to manage this vast holdings firsthand. He lived in what was a hunting lodge, replaced in 1828 by the present brick farmhouse. George Washington, who began his career as a surveyor for Lord Fairfax, was a frequent visitor at Greenway Court. The surrounding scenic cultural landscape has been listed as the Greenway Rural Historic District.

The village proper is recognized as a historic district and includes an early twentieth century commercial structure at the intersection, behind which stands an earlier livery stable dating to the late 18th century. Two churches, Meade Memorial Episcopal Church and White Post United Methodist Church also stand within the historic district, as well as the Treadwell Masonic Temple, housing a Masonic Lodge founded in 1866.

History of Clarke County Virginia – White Post – by Thomas D. Gold 1914

What Mairi and I are usually attracted to on our gallivants are the historic churches in the areas we visit. The town is historically noted for its association with Bishop William Meade, who was born at White Post and later led the remarkable revival of the Episcopal Church in Virginia that occurred in the decades following the War of 1812. The town’s most distinguished architectural landmark, Bishop Meade Memorial Church (1875) is an unusually ornate and finely crafted example of rural Gothic Revival named in honor of White Post’s most distinguished son.

Meade Memorial Episcopal Church

The Reverand William Meade

William Meade was born in a small frontier cabin named Meadea, in White Post, and lived there for several years. The property was originally part of a 50,212-acre tract owned jointly by Robert Burwell, George Washington, and Fielding Lewis. A portion was later sold to Reverend Meade’s father Colonel Richard Kidder Meade, an aide-de-camp to Washington. The Meade family, from whom the property takes its name, lived here until their larger home, Lucky Hit, was completed in 1791.

Meade gave the property its unusual name because he purchased it sight-unseen and considered himself “lucky” to have chosen such beautiful land. The house is distinctive for having five bays on both its facade and its ends. The ends are given a formality by the use of pedimented gables. Most of the original Federal woodwork and early hardware remains on the interior. On the grounds are two original outbuildings: a summer kitchen and privy. From 1947 to 1973 the Lucky Hit property, which contributes to the Greenway Rural Historic District, was owned by Alexander Mackay-Smith, who modernized the house and added the west wing.

Meade was home-schooled until he was ten, then sent to a school run by Reverand Wiley on the estate of Nathaniel Burwell.¹ Young Meade entered the college of New Jersey, later Princeton University in 1806. Meade graduated with high honors and as valedictorian in 1808. At the urging of his mother and his cousin Mrs. Custis, Meade studied theology privately under the Reverend Walter Addison ² near Washington DC, and lived for a time in Alexandria, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Reverand Addison’s parish.

From his ordination until 1821, deacon and then Reverend Meade served as the assistant to Reverend Alexander Balmain³, rector of Frederick Parish and who usually served in Winchester, Virginia, about 15 miles away from Meade’s home. Meade normally officiated every other Sunday at the Old Chapel near his family’s plantation. On the alternate Sundays, his father-in-law served as the parish’s lay leader, while Reverand Meade visited other congregations nearby or more remotely. He then served from 1829 until 1862 as the third bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

In 1818, Meade and William Holland Wilmer⁴ helped organize an education society in Alexandria. Five years later, after an unsuccessful attempt to establish a seminary in Williamsburg, both helped form the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria to train young men for the ministry in Maryland, Virginia and southern states. Later, from 1842 to 1862, bishop Meade served as the seminary’s president, as well as delivered an annual course of lectures on pastoral theology. Meade also helped found the Evangelical Knowledge Society (1847) and served as its president. This was the man that Meade Memorial Episcopal Church was named for.

History of Meade Memorial Episcopal Church

The most prominent building in the district is Bishop Meade Memorial Church built ca. 1875. A highly sophisticated example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, the church is unusual for its ornate details and display of local craftsmanship. Built at an austere time in post-Civil War Episcopal Church history, it is an unusually large brick structure with a steeply-pitched gable roof. Its walls are embellished with corbelled brick cornices and brick pilasters topped with pinnacles. Tall pointed- arched windows line the longitudinal sides of the church and a small enclosed porch with a round-arched entry projects at the front.⁵

With the approval of the  Diocese of Virginia’s Annual Council of 1868 the members of Cunningham Chapel Parish, who lived in the “White Post” vicinity organized the Meade Memorial Church, Greenway Court Parish.

The church was named in memory of The Right Reverend William Meade, the third Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia and a native of the White Post area.  Many family members are buried in the church cemetery and relatives can still be found here.   A Bishop Meade Road is nearby.

Interestingly enough, there are presently two Meade Memorial Churches in the Diocese of Virginia.  The other is a historically black congregation in Alexandria and honors the Bishop’s ministry to African-Americans in the Civil War era.

A cornerstone for the White Post church building was laid in 1872, and it was built using bricks removed from a house which burned on the church site some years before.   The Church was consecrated (set aside for sacred use) on July 13, 1875, and the congregation’s mission and ministry continued for over ninety years.  Decline had set in and in 1967 the Church was closed due to lack of members.   Only occasional services were held after that time.

In 1996, on the initiative of some of the former members, Meade Memorial Episcopal Church was reopened as a mission of the Diocese of Virginia and resumed regular Sunday Services.

Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
REGISTRATION FORM
OMB No. 1024-0018

Greenway Historic District (Boundarv Increase 2007)
DHR File # 021-0963-0132, also DHR File # 021-0657

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Ebenezer Primitive Baptist Church (DHR # 021-0657) is located adjacent to the northeast boundary of the Greenway National Register Historic District at 14374 Lord Fairfax Highway. According to the datestone, the current building was constructed in 1918 replacing an earlier 1897 church. Built as a Baptist church for an African-American congregation, the l-story, gable-end frame building is three bays deep and contains a mid-20th-century, shed-roofed, concrete block side wing. The church, which is located on the west side of Route 340 as it makes a turn to the north near the village of White Post, sits on a 1 1/2-acre tract that includes a cemetery containing approximately 200 marked graves. A graveled driveway south of the church leads to a grassy parking area. A modem, five-foot monument sign of brick and plyboard, located in the front yard, states the name of the church and the time of services.

ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS

 Located on the outskirts of White Post directly adjacent to a northeastern boundary of the Greenway Historic District, Ebenezer Baptist Church was constructed in 1918 on the site of an 1897 church that burned.⁶ The 1 story, gable-end frame church, which fronts onto Route 340, rests on a random rabble stone foundation and is three bays deep. Square-headed, double-hung wood windows with a pointed-arched tracery pattern, as well as the diamond-shaped attic window in the front gable end, give the building its vernacular Gothic Revival appearance. The church is currently clad in asbestos siding and features a standing-seam metal gable roof with overhanging eaves and an exterior side brick flue. A gable-roofed entrance bay is located on the front of the building with side concrete block lean-tos that contain bathrooms. The bathrooms are naturally lighted by small windows of glass bricks laid in a Latin cross pattern. A shed-roofed rectangular chancel bay projects from the rear and appears original. A mid-20th-century concrete block wing projects to the north side of the original church. The roof is clad in v-crimp metal and the wood windows are 1/1-sash. Other details in the wing include an interior brick flue, several doors, and T-111 siding in the attic story.

 The interior of Ebenezer Baptist Church is very much intact and features original flooring, wainscot, and pews. The side addition contains a kitchen and meeting room.

A cemetery surrounds the church on three sides and contains approximately 200 marked graves. The oldest stones are located directly adjacent to the back of the church building and the earliest legible death date noted is 1892. A number of graves are marked only with small fieldstones bearing no inscriptions and in fact may predate the 1892 burial. Several prominent local African-American families are buried in the cemetery including Crittendon, Jackson, Laws, Morris, Payne, Sloane, Tigney, Washington, Williams, Wedlock, and Whitmore, among others.⁷ These include some of the first trustees of the church when it was established in the mid-1880s.

The Greenway Historic District contains several African-American churches similar in form to Ebenezer Baptist Church. This supports its inclusion as a contributing building as well as the surrounding cemetery as a contributing site that sits on the same parcel.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

When the Greenway Historic District was first proposed for listing in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, Virginia Department of Historic Resources staff recommended not including structures that were surrounded by non-contributing resources or the jumping back-and-forth across streets, particularly at the boundary edge of a district. Man-made features, in this case, US Route 340, were also used to define boundaries. Although the district crosses the Route 340 boundary (Lord Fairfax Highway) north of this property to take in multiple contributing resources, it was felt that the isolated nature of Ebenezer Baptist Church and cemetery (DHR # 021-0657) did not warrant the crossing of Route 340 at that location. However, subsequent research has provided a persuasive argument as to the historic significance of this resource, justifying the increase of the Greenway Historic District Boundary to include the property.

Ebenezer Baptist Church and cemetery were established in the late 1880s. Although a datestone in the current building indicates the original church was constructed in 1897, historic research and associated gravestones suggest that a church was on or near the site by 1885.⁸

The Greenway Historic District focuses primarily on a rural area in southern Clarke County. Containing not only large farms and estates, the district also includes the African-American communities of Sugar Hill and Bethel. In addition, the village of White Post contains several African-American resources that are already included within the Greenway Historic District boundaries, the most relevant of which is the Mt. Olive Baptist Church (DHR #021-0658).⁹ The building was constructed 1908 and is located directly across Route 340 from Ebenezer Baptist Church.

The original Greenway Historic District nomination did not specify Ethic Heritage as an area of significance, but rather listed only architecture; agriculture; education; exploration/settlement; industry; and transportation. However, the original nomination did discuss the development and architecture of several other African American churches, thereby justifying the inclusion of Ebenezer Baptist Church within the boundaries. Not only is the church still used by an African-American congregation, many of whom reside outside the county, but it also falls within the listed period of significance for the entire district (ca. 1760-1943).

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In 2002, as part of a CLG project #66014, a comprehensive report of African- American histories and communities in Clarke County was published. The African-American Historic Context Final Report: Clarke County identified numerous African-American communities and their associated resources. Among these was Ebenezer Baptist Church and Cemetery, which predates the Mt. Olive Baptist Church by more than two decades.

A description of Ebenezer Baptist Church’s historic context was included in the 2002 report: The community [White Post] contains two African-American churches, both located on the north end of the village, while the black school house is located on the south end….After the Civil War, White Post grew in size as is reflected in the surviving architecture. Some of the new citizens were certainly freed slaves who once lived on the surrounding plantations. The 1890 Land Tax Book showed nine black landowners in White Post at that time: Robert Bannister, Sawney Hunter, Robert Lovett, Kate Lovett, George Moses, H. Robinson, John Strange, Jeff Williams, and William Walker.

White Post has two Baptist churches used by African-Americans, both located at the north end of the village. Ebenezer Baptist Church, a l-story, gable-end rectangular building with a small cemetery behind it sits on the west side of the Lord Fairfax Highway, while Mt. Olive Baptist Church, a vernacular Gothic-Revival-style building with central bell tower is sited on the east side of the road. Behind Mt. Olive Church is the Charles “Buster” Jackson Cemetery and just south is a one-story brick building from the late 19th century known as the old Meade School. In an 1884 deed Emma Grigsby transferred to the Trustees of the “Colored Baptist Church at White Post” one acre “adjoining lot of Ralph Laws in the south west- Robinson the west- the balance of the lot….fronting on the public road leading from White Post to Boyceville….to be used as a cemetery of burial ground in connection with the said church” (CCDB S:211). This appears to be Ebenezer Baptist Church and the cemetery behind it…..¹⁰

It appears that religious politics were at play in this small community that created a need for two churches. This is supported in historian Thomas D. Gold’s History of Clarke County, Virginia published in 1914. A chapter on White Post was written by Dr. H. C. Sommerville. He devoted a portion of his description to the black community,

“There is a considerable settlement of colored people chiefly in the northern part of the village. They have two quite respectable, good churches, with regular preaching. Among these people there are some valuable, good, citizens, owning comfortable homes….¹¹

The land on which Ebenezer Baptist Church and cemetery are situated was deeded to the congregation through the estate of John Alexander by the successive owners Emma and Blanche Grigsby, who affected the conveyance in 1884. The deed transferred the property to the Trustees “for the use and benefit of the said Colored Baptist Church at White Post to be used as a cemetery or burial ground in connection with said church and with full power and authority in the said church….”¹²

John Alexander was a large land holder in Clarke County who is recorded in the 1860 US Census as owning more than 800 acres and 38 slaves. Not only did Alexander provide the land for Ebenezer Baptist Church, but it was also his land on which the white Methodist Church was built. Alexander was described by Dr. Sommerville in Gold’s History of Clarke County as being unconventional.

“He [Alexander] was peculiar in his dress or costume—wore his hair long, tied with a string in queue style. He almost always attended service, and was importuned by some of the church members to unite with the church, his reply was, ‘He had no occasion to belong to the church, because the church belonged to him,’ meaning that he had assumed a certain indebtedness for the [White Post Methodist] church which it had failed to cancel.”¹³

---

White Post United Methodist Church formerly Methodist Episcopal Church South built in 1899.

This was the most difficult of the churches when it came to finding its history. The following has been drawn from the History of Clarke County Virginia written by Thomas D. Gold in 1914. The first manifestation of this church was as the first building ever used as a school house in White Post. It was situated in the North-east of the Village on the land owned by Colonel R. K. Meade on his Lucky Hit Farm. This lot of some two or three acres was well located, covered with a beautiful blue grass sod and ornamented with some grand old oak trees —for which the neighborhood is famous. Colonel Meade, not only gave the land, but it is said put up a good sized stone building, to be used as a church for all denominations. The building was also to be used for a school house or academy.

The building was made a convenience as a kind of public hall —speeches, lectures, plays, entertainments, etc. It was finally abandoned and with the beautiful lot sold. That was a sad day for White Post —parting with her jewel old church and the beautiful lot. Before destruction and oblivion overtook the old stone meeting house a new and modern (for that day) brick church had been built by the Methodist people, located just north, on the border of the beautiful lot, in full view of the damage and wreckage being done to the old. Like many new enterprises —the new church prospered —interest was alive, membership active and large, general attendance good. While the church was a denominational one; yet liberty abounded. The use of the church was granted to the Episcopalians and Presbyterians. Both used it regularly.

This church building was not as carefully looked after as it should have been. The water spouts failed to carry the water and give the needed drainage. The walls cracked, and the bees made honey in the cracks and annoyed the worshippers —further the walls settled and became unsafe. The building was taken down and moved near the center of the town, on the west side of, and some little distance from the street. Here quite a neat, modern brick building now stands —having a church bell and belfry to tell the villagers of the assembling of the multitude and the hours of worship. Adjoining the lot on which the church stands is a neat, comfortable dwelling, with the necessary out buildings, shade and fruit trees, handsome lawn of blue grass well kept. This is the home of the preacher —the parsonage, where time and thought and means have been expended by the membership to make their pastor and family comfortable during their brief stay in their midst.

The Methodist Episcopal Church South – The Methodist Split

Formed as a result of the separation from The Methodist Episcopal Church. Reflecting the debate in that nation over slavery, pastors and members of The Methodist Episcopal Church found themselves embroiled in a strong controversy. At the General Conference of 1844, a Plan of Separation was voted on which would have facilitated an orderly division of the denomination over a period of time, largely along regional or geographic lines. However, the leaders of the southern group immediately set out to establish a separate church. This was done in the first General Conference of 1846 of The Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Though weakened through the period of the Civil War, the new church grew and became a dominant religious force in the southern portion of the nation. In 1939 The Methodist Episcopal Church, South reunited with The Methodist Episcopal Church and The Methodist Protestant Church to form The Methodist Church.¹⁴

The statistics for 1859 showed the MEC,S had as enrolled members some 511,601 whites and 197,000 blacks (nearly all of whom were slaves), and 4,200 Indians. In 1858 MEC,S operated 106 schools and colleges.¹⁵

After the Civil War, when African American slaves gained freedom, many left the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They joined either the independent black denominations of the African Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Philadelphia or the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church founded in New York, but some also joined the (Northern) Methodist Episcopal Church, which planted new congregations in the South. The two independent black denominations both sent missionaries to the South after the war to aid freedmen, and attracted hundreds of thousands of new members, from both Baptists and Methodists, and new converts to Christianity. Out of 200,000 African-American members in the MEC,S in 1860, by 1866 only 49,000 remained.

---

1. “Burwell, Nathaniel (1750–1814)”. encyclopediavirginia.org. Retrieved 21 September 2015. ↩︎
2. Philip Slaughter Memoir of the Life of the Rt. Rev. William Meade (Cambridge: John Wilson and Son, 1885) Page 9 ↩︎
3. R. Nelson, Reminiscences of the Right Rev. William Meade, D.D.: Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia from August 19, 1829 to March 14th 1862 (Shanghai, Ching-Foong General Printing Office 1878) pp. 51-52 ↩︎
4. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). “Meade, William“. Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 946. ↩︎
5. National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form – WHITE POST HISTORIC DISTRIC – Continuation Sheet #2 ↩︎
6. National Register of Historic Places Greenway Historic District (Boundary Increase 2007), Page 3 ↩︎
7. Mt. Olive is now known as Life in the Word Church of Jesus Christ ↩︎
8. Clarke County Deed Book S:213. ↩︎
9. Clarke County Deed Book S:213. ↩︎
10. Kalbian, Maral S. and Leila O. W. Boyer. African-American Historic Context Final Report: Clarke County, 2002 85. ↩︎
11. Gold, Thomas D. History of Clarke County Virginia. Berryville, VA: Chesapeake Book Company, 1962 [reprint of original 1914 edition] :55. ↩︎
12. Clarke County Deed Book S:213. ↩︎
13. Gold:53 ↩︎
14. A Dictionary for United Methodists, Alan K. Waltz, Copyright 1991, Abingdon Press. ↩︎
15. David Young; et al. (1860). The Methodist Almanac: 1861 ↩︎