Pohick Church

Pohick Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Virginia Landmarks Register
Pohick Church
Location	9301 Richmond Hwy., Lorton, Virginia
Coordinates
Built	1774
Architect	James Wren
Architectural style	Colonial
NRHP Reference #	69000239
VLR #	029-0046
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 16, 1969
Designated VLR	November 5, 1968

Pohick Church is an Episcopal church in the community of Pohick near Lorton in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.

History

Originally founded around 1695 as Occoquan Church, it would become the main church of the Anglican Truro Parish of Virginia and be renamed Pohick Church in 1732 after relocating near Pohick Creek, a site now occupied by Cranford Methodist Church.

In 1769, work was begun on the present Pohick Church structure and it was completed in 1774. Truro Parish had several notable members of the vestry who helped raise funds for the construction and maintenance of the two structures, including George Washington, and his father Augustine, George Mason, and George William Fairfax (a cousin of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron). It was custom at the time to raise money for the funding of the church through the purchase of private pew boxes.

Following the disestablishment of the Anglican church by the Congress of Confederation in 1785, many of what were renamed Episcopal churches fell into decline. However, Pohick Church remained active with Washington biographer Parson Weems serving as rector of the church periodically.

However, the church was raided by the British in the War of 1812 and was only used sporadically by Episcopalians in the early part of the 19th century and the building fell into decline.

A national fund raising effort allowed for a restoration in the 1840s but during the Civil War, the church was taken over by occupying Union troops, who used the church building as a stable. Northern soldiers vandalized and looted the building and their graffiti is still visible on the church walls.

Following the Civil War, services at the Pohick Church resumed in 1874 and the building underwent another restoration at the end of the 19th century.

External links

• Pohick Church, 9301 Richmond Highway, Lorton, Fairfax County, VA: 4 photo, and 5 data pages at Historic American Buildings Survey
• Pew Deeds, Historic Record of Fairfax, Virginia
• History of Pohick Church
• Pohick Church Website