Three Centuries on Princess Anne Street
St. George's Episcopal Church has been extending a message of welcome in Fredericksburg, Virginia since the Virginia House of Burgesses established the parish on November 18, 1720. The tall green steeple that identifies the historic 1849 brick building at 905 Princess Anne Street is a familiar landmark in the city's downtown, and the congregation of more than 1,000 members fills three Sunday services, a robust music program, a Montessori preschool, a market-style food pantry, and a long list of local and global mission partnerships. The church welcomes everyone, regardless of race, nationality, sexual orientation, gender expression, or tradition, and frames that welcome as both a commitment and an ongoing practice.
Founded in 1720, Rooted in This Place
The parish predates the city. The House of Burgesses created St. George's Parish the same day it created Spotsylvania County, and when the General Assembly founded Fredericksburg in 1728, two of the first lots were set aside for the church and its graveyard. The first minister to occupy the Fredericksburg church was the Rev. James Marye, appointed rector in October 1735; he served until 1767.
St. George's history is woven into the early republic. Fielding Lewis, George Washington's brother-in-law, served on the vestry in 1753; Charles Washington joined the vestry in 1766; George Washington himself began attending St. George's in 1770. In 1771, Washington moved his mother Mary Ball Washington to Fredericksburg, and she worshipped here until her death on August 25, 1789, with her funeral held in the church. William Paul, brother of John Paul Jones, was buried in the St. George's graveyard in 1774.
The present brick church building was consecrated on April 22, 1849, at a cost of $19,000. The sale of pews to parishioners the next day raised $24,000. In 1858, the current bell, made by Meneely's Company of West Troy, New York, was installed in the steeple. A clock, placed in the steeple in May 1851 and replaced in 1996, is owned and maintained by the City of Fredericksburg.
The Civil War left deep marks. In December 1862, the building was hit by shell fire at least 25 times during the Battle of Fredericksburg, and the communion silver was stolen by Union soldiers. In 1864, the church served as a hospital for some of the 60,000 Union and Confederate soldiers wounded in the Wilderness and Spotsylvania campaigns. Regular worship resumed on December 2, 1864.
The parish also has a long history of reckoning with its own past. The 1878 vestry set aside an entire block of seats in the gallery for Black worshipers, and in 1879 cordially invited all classes and colors of citizens to join in public worship. Joseph Walker, born into slavery, became sexton of St. George's on October 11, 1886 and served 53 years; he went on to help found Walker-Grant High School, the first publicly supported high school for Black students in Fredericksburg. Under the leadership of the Rev. Thomas Faulkner, services were desegregated in 1955. Mrs. Avis Harris became the first woman elected to the vestry in January 1968. S. O'Brien Payne became the first African American vestry member in 1974. In April 1968, the parish hosted a community service mourning the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 2010, a 2,700-pipe Parsons organ was installed in the gallery, and the music program expanded. In 2011, both the Montessori preschool and The Table food pantry opened. On February 16, 2013, the parish hosted a service titled From Repentance to Hope, led by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. On March 23, 2019, St. George's was listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The parish celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2020.
Three Sunday Services, One Welcoming Tradition
Sunday worship is the center of parish life at St. George's, and the church offers three distinct services, each with its own character.
At 8:00 AM, the day begins with a quiet, traditional spoken Eucharist using Rite I from the Book of Common Prayer. The service includes prayers ancient and modern and is suited to those who prefer a reflective, contemplative start to the day.
At 10:00 AM, the congregation gathers for a welcoming, multi-generational Eucharist that blends traditional worship language and music with more contemporary expressions. Children and youth are encouraged to participate as lectors and acolytes. The service is livestreamed on YouTube Live and is the principal family service of the morning.
At 5:30 PM, the day closes with a Celtic Evensong and Holy Communion, by candlelight, with periods of silence and quiet reflection. The Celtic service draws on the music and prayer tradition of the Celtic Christian world. Parents with young children are welcome, but the service includes low lighting and silence. The parish can arrange childcare by calling the church office at least by the preceding Thursday.
An American Sign Language interpreter can be provided at the 10:00 AM service upon request; the parish has received a grant from the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf to make this possible.
Wednesday Noon and the Daily Office on Zoom
Beyond Sunday mornings, worship continues through the week. On Wednesdays at noon, a Eucharist with Healing Prayer is offered in the church.
The Daily Office, with Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer, is prayed on Zoom every weekday morning at 8:00 AM and evening at 5:30 PM, led by a group of lay people. Anyone may join by Zoom or by phone.
Music That Stays With You
Music is one of the things St. George's is known for in the wider Fredericksburg community. Many newcomers, the parish notes, have listed the organ and music program as a primary reason for choosing to worship there.
The Choir of St. George's is the principal adult choir, supported by St. George's Voices and a Compline Choir. Juliann Jones directs the children's music program, which includes Children's Choir and Chimes. Instrumental ensembles include the Celtic Ensemble, the Chamber Ensemble, and the Jazz Ensemble, alongside a Handbell Choir. Lucy Monte serves as Music Assistant, working as accompanist for choir rehearsals, the children's choir, and the Celtic Evensong service. Achim Loch is the Acting Director of Music Ministries.
The Parsons pipe organ, installed in 2010, anchors the program. The instrument has received rave reviews from international concert organists, critics, and concertgoers. Nine stops, totaling 732 pipes, remain to be installed to finish the organ as designed, at a total cost of $271,844. The parish accepts donations to the Organ Fund and offers named giving opportunities: a single pipe can be purchased for $372, and individual stops range from $15,218 to $36,497.
The church's concert programming includes a Chamber Music Series and an Organ Recital Series, both open to the wider community.
Godly Play, SPLASH, and the Dragon's Den
Children of all ages are welcome at St. George's, and the children's formation program is built around four Sunday morning offerings at 9:00 AM.
PreK through second grade meets in the Godly Play room on the Preschool floor for Godly Play, a Montessori-based program of stories, wondering, and expressive art or play. Grades 3 through 5 gather in the library behind Sydnor Hall for SPLASH (Spirit, Play, Love, All Spoken Here), using a curriculum designed by the Episcopal Church. Middle schoolers in grades 6 through 8 join the Dragon's Den on the Youth Floor for conversation about topics related to faith, with art as the main reflection tool. High schoolers in grades 9 through 12 meet in Faulkner Hall for Youth Formation, a youth-led discussion of how Scripture, theology, worship, popular culture, and personal experience intersect in those years.
During the 10:00 AM service, the front of the nave has a soft space, with rugs set out so that children and parents can sit close enough to see and hear the service while still being able to get up and find one another with minimal disruption. Children are also invited to carry forward the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine at the 10:00 service and to greet at the front doors before services.
For youth in grades 6 through 12, the parish shares a youth ministry with Trinity and Christ Lutheran, gathering twice a month at the Campus Christian Center near the University of Mary Washington for lunch, conversation, and service projects, under the leadership of the Rev. Ethan Lowery and Amy Bogardus.
Education for Ministry and the Adult Forum
Adult formation at St. George's meets on Sundays at 9:00 AM in Sydnor Hall and includes Adult Forums on faith-based topics and current events, Episco 101, an introduction to the Episcopal tradition for newcomers or those wanting to dig deeper, and Bible Study.
Education for Ministry (EfM), a four-year extension course in theology sponsored by the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, is offered at the parish. EfM moves sequentially through the Old Testament, New Testament, church history, and theology in a small group setting that emphasizes discussion, reflection, and study. Members meet on Mondays from 5:30 to 8:00 PM in Faulkner Hall.
The Table at St. George's
In December 2011, the vestry established The Table, St. George's open-market food pantry. Since 2012, volunteers have welcomed people each Tuesday from 12:00 to 1:00 PM at Market Square, next to St. George's, in the hope that at this Table, as at the altar, all may come and find sustenance.
The Table is a market-style pantry where patrons choose the foods they and their families need, and the ministry is committed to providing fresh produce each week. St. Georgians, community members, and local businesses donate food, and The Table also purchases thousands of pounds of food each week, including crate after crate of fresh produce from a local farm.
The Table is one part of a larger feeding ministry. In partnership with Micah Ecumenical Ministries, a community dinner is served at St. George's every Monday in Sydnor Hall, with the parish providing food and service on the third and fourth Mondays of the month. Food for Life, a feeding program for the elderly offered through the local food bank, distributes food boxes from the building once a month. On the third Tuesday of each month, volunteers meet in the parish kitchen to make 175 sandwiches for distribution by Micah to people experiencing homelessness.
From Fredericksburg to Port-au-Prince
St. George's has long maintained partnerships beyond Fredericksburg. Through World Mission, the parish offers financial support and mission trips. The Haiti team visits Port-au-Prince regularly, up to twice a year, staying for about five days and leading projects such as painting classrooms, leading medical clinics, and taking school photos. The parish is a sister church to one of the oldest Episcopal parishes in Haiti, a partnership that includes a school of 383 children. Members and friends can sponsor a child for all or part of the school year at $1 a day, with funds covering tuition, uniform, books, and one daily meal.
Afghan Allies is a newer ministry responding to the needs of refugees arriving in Virginia with only the clothes on their backs. Thanks to the generosity of St. Georgians and community members, the ministry has helped settle several families evacuated from Afghanistan into apartments and townhouses, providing furniture, household supplies, and the small comforts of a new home.
The parish also supports Cold Night Shelter, Micah Ecumenical Ministries, School Dressing Days, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, Hope House, Hospice Support Care, Moss Free Clinic, Empower House, Rappahannock Legal Services, and assisted living resources across Virginia.
Walking Together Through Sorrow and Joy
Pastoral care at St. George's is a shared ministry of clergy and parishioners. For urgent needs such as serious illness, sudden loss, or death, clergy can be reached through the pastoral care on-call line. Clergy meet individually or in small groups for listening, prayer, and counsel on spiritual care, end-of-life planning, financial challenges, health concerns, and relationships.
Lay Eucharistic Visitors make short visits to homebound parishioners to share in the Eucharist. The One Body Response Team provides cards, prayers, home visits, meals, and occasional transportation. The prayer group prays on the second and fourth Thursdays at the church, and a Prayer Chain email network shares urgent requests. Personal prayer ministers respond during services to those who ask for prayer by listening and offering intercessory prayer.
A prayer board in the nave invites anyone to write a request on paper and pin it to the board; those prayers are read aloud each Wednesday as part of the noon service. Prayer shawl and quilt ministers knit and sew mantles of comfort that are prayed over as they are made and then given to those in significant life events. The public prayer list is printed in the service bulletin each week and circulated by email; private prayer requests are sent to clergy and the prayer ministry group.
Racial Justice as a Living Practice
St. George's publicly renounces the sins of racism and white supremacy in all their forms, subtle and overt. The parish acknowledges that the histories of the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Virginia, and St. George's itself contain numerous examples of collaborating with and benefiting from systemic oppression based on race. The church commits to strive for justice and peace among all people and to respect the dignity of every human being.
The Racial Reconciliation Book Groups read and discuss a wide range of books, with an evening group meeting on the third Tuesday of the month from 7:00 to 8:30 PM and an afternoon group on the fourth Tuesday at 2:00 PM. Books can be borrowed from the parish library; the parish encourages purchasing from Black-owned bookstores.
The Racial Justice and Healing Commission also wrote the parish's land acknowledgment, in conversation with the local Patawomeck Tribe. The acknowledgment gives thanks for the land as a precious gift, honors the Indigenous peoples who knew the land of the parish more than 10,000 years before it was established, names the impact of European colonization and the atrocities committed against Indigenous communities, and pledges to work toward right relationships, justice, equity, and repair.
Weddings, Funerals, and the Memorial Garden
St. George's hosts weddings for active members of the parish and their immediate family members. Weddings are performed according to either the traditional service from the Book of Common Prayer or the provisional marriage rites authorized by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2015, which extend the sacrament of marriage to same-sex couples.
Funerals are offered by the clergy for members and their loved ones. The Memorial Garden offers the interment of ashes for those who wish to rest in the shadow of the steeple.
The church's graveyard has been in continuous use since the founding of Fredericksburg in 1728, and the oldest legible stone bears the date 1752. In 2002, the remains of six 18th-century Fredericksburg citizens dug up during the renovation of Market Square were re-interred using the Office for Burial of the Dead from the 1690 Anglican Prayer Book.
A Preschool in the Parish House
St. George's Episcopal Preschool opened in September 2011 in the parish house. The school is Montessori-based and serves a small, diverse group of preschoolers from the parish family, the community, and underserved families in the area. Director Danielle Davis leads a program that builds on each child's strengths and focuses on social, spiritual, moral, intellectual, emotional, and physical growth, aiming to nurture imagination and joy in learning.
Buildings, Windows, and the Parsons Organ
The 1849 church building is the architectural heart of the parish. Inside, stained glass windows from Heidelberg, Tiffany Studios, Colgate Glass, and Wilbur Burnham tell the story of the congregation across more than a century. Outside, the tall green steeple holds the 1858 Meneely bell and the 1851 city clock. The 2,700-pipe Parsons organ, installed in 2010, anchors a music program that has grown to include three adult choirs, two children's choirs, a handbell choir, three instrumental ensembles, and a community concert series.
Faulkner Hall, built in 1823 and originally used as a Sunday school, is named for the Faulkner family. McGuire Hall, the two-story addition that connects Faulkner Hall to the church, was built in 1959 to house the Sunday school. Sydnor Hall is the gathering place for adult forums and community dinners. The Youth Floor hosts middle and high school formation and youth group activities.
The parish also opens its buildings to outside groups. Twelve-Step groups, diocesan gatherings, and Fredericksburg-area non-profits use the facilities under a set of priorities that place parish programs first.
An Open Door for Visitors
Visitors are welcomed into a parish where, as the rector writes, questions are most welcome and the church tries not to have all the answers. The rector, the Rev. Joseph H. Hensley Jr., joined St. George's in 2015; the associate rector is the Rev. K. Paige Trivett. The Rev. Ethan Lowery serves as Young Adult Missioner, and the Rev. Frank Uwaezuoke serves as Priest Associate. The Rev. Dr. Rosemary Beales and the Rev. Dr. Lynn Collins serve as Clergy Associates, supporting worship, pastoral ministry, and formation.
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. The parish can be reached by phone at 540-373-4133 or by email at office@stgeorgesepiscopal.net. Pastoral emergencies can be reached at 540-361-8573. Donations can be made online or by texting the dollar amount to 1-540-701-4133.
Three centuries in, St. George's continues to extend a message of welcome from a tall green steeple on Princess Anne Street. The church invites anyone who walks through its doors to share its tradition, its music, its food pantry, its formation, and its mission, and to find a place at the table.