Bruton Parish Church

201 W Duke of Gloucester St, Williamsburg, VA 23185, USA

Virginia

state

James City

county

VA - Williamsburg

city

MUSEUM

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Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1674 by the consolidation of two previous parishes in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Episcopal parish. The building, constructed 1711–15, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as a well-preserved early example of colonial religious architecture.

SITE FEATURES

Surviving Structures

On this site...

Under the watchful eye of Dr. James Blair, who was rector from 1710 to 1743 the construction of the new church got underway, with the first construction contract awarded in 1711. Finished in 1715, the church soon had all the required furnishings: Bible, prayer books, altar, font, cushions, surplice, bell, and reredos tablets. In 1755 the church got its first organ when the vestry voted on November 18 to enable "a person to build a Loft for an Organ in the Church in the City of Williamsburg, and to set up the same." Peter Pelham was unanimously chosen as the church's first organist.

CHURCH

EST. 1715

As the American Revolutionary War began in 1776, the power of both the monarchy and the church as an institution controlled by the government came into question in the colony. Among the Virginia leaders of the time who attended Bruton Parish Church were Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, Patrick Henry, and George Mason.