Old Chapel

The Virginia General Assembly established Frederick Parish in 1738, and a log sanctuary was built here ca. 1747. A stone church, later known as Old Chapel, replaced the log building ca. 1793. The Rev. William Meade served the congregation for about 25 years early in the 19th century. A founder of what is now the Virginia Theological Seminary, he became Episcopal Bishop of Virginia in 1841. Buried in Old Chapel's cemetery is Edmund Randolph (1753-1813), governor of Virginia, first U.S. attorney general, and U.S. secretary of state. Also interred here are enslaved African Americans, Union and Confederate veterans, author John Esten Cooke, and Nathaniel Burwell, builder of nearby Carter Hall.