St. George’s History comprises individual articles, documents and collections around the 300 year history of St. George’s Episcopal Church, located in Fredericksburg Virginia. This site is unrelated to St. George's main website.
Supplementing them are a category-based search, a content index and a timeline. We have two tour documents - a building summary and a 15 minute walking tour you can take in the church.
If this is your first visit, check out the 2 tours - building summary and a 15 minute walking tour.
Recent articles
“They also preached” – Assistants and Associates St. George’s 1973-1976. Part 1- Charles Sydnor
We often concentrate on the rector and forget the assistants and associates who also preach and lead important parts of the ministry, such as education. This is a part 1 of a series on Charles Sydnor, the first Assistant.
A Visual History of the Changes to the Chancel 1849 to 2009
How has St. George’s chancel evolved over time ? As Charles Sydnor points out, “Church architecture and ceremony are an expression of our theological emphasis.” You see this in how the chancel has changed over 160 years and will likely change again
Vestry Members 1726 to the present
A list of Vestry members from 1726 to the present. Each column can be sorted and searched by filter
“Remember the Poor!” – St. George’s Benevolent Society
Of all of our Trusts and Funds this is the only corporate entity, the only one that is a society, the only one to own real estate and then had to sue itself to rid itself of the property
Thomas Faulkner, “Sermonette”
A sermonette from Tom Faulkner on the healing of the 10 lepers that appeared in the “Free Lance-Star”.
The Mercers at St. George’s
Gen. Hugh Mercer (1726-1777) who owned the apothecary shop, served Washington at Trenton and later died at Princeton did not serve St. George’s on the Vestry but contributed in other ways. His son, Hugh Tennent Mercer (1776-1853) was on the Vestry and participated in the completion of the second church.
Lafayette at St. George’s, Nov. 1824
In 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette accepted an invitation from the US Congress and President Monroe, an old friend, to visit the US. Leaving France with his son Georges, a valet and Auguste Levasseur, his secretary on July 13, he sailed into NY Harbor on Aug 15. Levasseur would send back countless dispatches to an … Read more
Researching St. George’s History
More and more resources are being found on St. George’s. Here are a few of them organized around 1. Books about St. George’s. 2. Books about Fredericksburg. 3. Libraries 4. Websites/Articles.
Trip Wiggins’ St. George’s Archive List
Trip Wiggins is responsible for cataloging the archives which was in the current youth kitchen. During the renovation our archives were stored in the Heritage Center which we made permanent by loaning them our archives from that period on. We did not deed the archives to them. This is Tripp’s archives report detailing what documents consisted of the archives. We need to provide the related addresses to the Heritage Center listing.
1. Carrol Quenzel's History of St. George's
Quenzel's 1951 history is still the standard for the church. He was a librarian for Mary Washington College as well as being active at St. George's, helping to create the St. Georgian newsletter as well as a part of the Vestry. We have the entire book online which was published by St. George's
2. The Three Churches of St. George's - Barbara Willis
Barbara Willis was a local historian and writer and long time St. Georgian with her husband Mac. This paper is a detailed summary of the evolution of St. George's church from its wooden colonial church to the impressive 1849 brick building we have today.
The Civil War may be the most popular historic topic in all of our history. The church served in 3 capacities - as a fortress, center of revival and as a hospital. We have a 9 part series on our role and relationship to Fredericksburg.
McGuire served all 3 churches over the course of 45 years. He is probably the most influential of all our rectors in all phases of ministry from preaching, teaching, and outreach. Trip Wiggins, our archivist, wrote this for a Sunday school class and has been teaching classes for years
5. Charles Syndor on Social Policy
Charles Sydnor served St. George's from 1972-2003 and was responsible for furthering Thomas Faulkner's outreach ministries and creating new ones. This paper he wrote in 2009 was for an adult forum in that year.
6. Tom Faulkner confronts the Vestry on race
Faulkner served St. George's for 30 years from 1946-1976. During these years racial policies were paramount, especially 1954, in the year of Brown vs. Board of Education, Faulkner was challenged by the Vestry on the role of Blacks in our service. He was able to move St. George's toward racial justice that other rectors would further
