Cypress Chapel Christian Church

K-187

According to tradition, Christian worship near this site began ca. 1750. A Church of England chapel was completed in 1760 but was abandoned following the Revolutionary War. A congregation affiliated with the Christian Church, a denomination organized in 1794 after splitting from the Methodists, moved into the building and became known as Cypress Chapel Christian Church. The first regular session of the Southern Christian Convention, which formed in 1856 after a schism with northern churches, met here in 1858. The Rev. William B. Wellons, a nationally prominent leader in the denomination who had been ordained here in 1846, served as pastor until 1872. The present sanctuary was built in 1925.

Department of Historic Resources, 2025

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

N. G. Newman, “Cypress Chapel,” typescript, n.d. W. E. MacClenny, “Sketch of Cypress Chapel Christian Church, Nansemond County, Va.,” typescript, 1910. Rev. William B. Wellons, “Address Delivered at the Laying of the Corner-Stone of the New House of Worship,” Cypress Chapel, 10 Sept. 1870. “Cypress Chapel Christian Church,” typescript, n.d. “Program Home Coming and Bi-Centennial Celebration,” Cypress Chapel Christian Church, 1950. Durward T. Stokes and William T. Scott, A History of the Christian Church in the South (Burlington, NC: Southern Conference United Church of Christ, 1975). The Vestry Book of the Upper Parish, Nansemond County, Virginia, 1743-1793 (Richmond: Library Board of Virginia, 1949). https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015075053853&seq=231