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
Photography of St. George’s – the 19th Century – Part 3 – Complete Set of Steeple Pictures
This is the complete set of images from the 1888 photo shoot with pictures taken in 1997 when the church was undergoing renovation as part of AIM 2000.
Photography of St. George’s – the 19th Century – Part 2
Here is the second part of Hennessey’s article on the “steeple pictures.” [pdf-embedder url=”http://history.churchsp.org/wp-content/uploads/1888steepleshots_02.pdf”]
Photography of St. George’s – the 19th Century – Part 1
There are only two periods of known photographs about St. George’s in the 19th century: 1. Civil War 1862-1864 2. Steeple Pictures 1888. These are views FROM St. George’s but unfortunately the unknown photographer did not take one of the church! John Hennessey did 2 online posts about the “steeple pictures”. See extended article online … Read more
A Donated Cross
Timbers used to create Christ Church, Spotsylvania in 1841 were used to created a 6 foot cross that were presented to a new mission church in Stafford in the 1990’s. The mission church eventually failed and the cross went back to Christ Episcopal. In 2016, Christ Church celebrated their 175th anniversary.
Haiti: Sanitary Napkin Project, microenterprise 2013-2016
Editor’s note -This project was conceived originally in 2013. Fund raising and developing the concept took much of 2014 and 2015. A paper was produced in September, 2014 – key parts are below. The machine was purchased in May, 2016 and was sent to Haiti. Concept Paper for PUBLIC HEALTH ENTERPRISE FOR WOMEN: SANITARY NAPKIN … Read more
Haiti: The Toilets Project, 2013-2014
This was a collaborative project between Region One, 19 Episcopal churches from Colonial Beach to Culpeper, and the individual churches to complete a new toilet for Notre Dame School that St. George’s and others had supported. St. George’s was the collection point for funds as well as the entity that directed the construction.
Haiti: The Medical Missions mature, 2014-2016
Besides the medical support, one missioner wrote this, “This visit is the twelfth for some of us, the tenth for others and the first for others. Over that amount of time we have built deep connections to the community of our Church, school and neighborhood. ” Thanks to Sarah Roeske for her notes on these missions
Haiti: The Medical Missions, Oct. 2012 – 2013
This has been the main theme of missions from 2012 onward. Learn how it got started and grew
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
