Qualla: Bruton Parish Church

Bruton Parish Church: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Michael Kotrady, CC BY-SA 3.0. The bell in the tower of Bruton Parish Church was cast in England in 1761, and the inscription reads: "The Gift of James Tarpley to Bruton Parish, 1761." That bell rang to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. It rang for the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776. It rang for the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia later that year. It rang for the Treaty of Paris in 1783 that ended the war. It is still ringing today. Around the corner from the Wren Building, half a block from the Capitol, Bruton Parish sits at the precise hinge of American history, the place where the people who shaped a revolution worshipped together every Sunday for decades.

Read more: Bruton Parish Church on Qualla

Image: Michael Kotrady | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bruton Parish Church: Middle Plantation Becomes a Capital

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PghPhxNfk, CC BY-SA 3.0. The roots of Bruton Parish run back to the first ship landings at Jamestown in 1607. The Reverend Robert Hunt, chaplain to Christopher Newport's three-ship expedition, planted a cross at Cape Henry on April 29 of that year and held the first Anglican services in Virginia. Captain...

Read more: Bruton Parish Church on Qualla

Image: PghPhxNfk | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bruton Parish Church: From Marston Parish to Bruton

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Michael Kotrady, CC BY-SA 3.0. Middle Plantation Parish was established in 1633, with a wooden church up by around 1660. In 1658 it merged with Harrop Parish to form Middletown. In 1674 Middletown merged with Marston Parish, in York County, to create the parish that survives today. The vestrymen of that foundi...

Read more: Bruton Parish Church on Qualla

Image: Michael Kotrady | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bruton Parish Church: The Town That Found Itself at the Center

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Michael Kotrady, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1693 the College of William & Mary was founded by royal charter, just up the road. In 1698 the State House at Jamestown burned for the third time, and the legislature once more took up temporary quarters at Middle Plantation. On May 1, 1699, James Blair (president of the new c...

Read more: Bruton Parish Church on Qualla

Image: Michael Kotrady | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bruton Parish Church: Founders in the Box Pews

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Harvey Barrison from Massapequa, NY, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Step inside Bruton Parish today and the box pews carry small name plates from the 18th century: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Tyler, Benjamin Harrison, Patrick Henry, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason. They were not symbolic worshippers; the...

Read more: Bruton Parish Church on Qualla

Image: Harvey Barrison from Massapequa, NY, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

Bruton Parish Church: Bacon's Vault and Other Mysteries

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0. Bruton Parish has its share of strange episodes. In 1938 Marie Bauer, a follower (and future wife) of the mystic Manly P. Hall, claimed to have decoded a 1635 emblem book by George Wither and located a hidden vault beneath the original 1683 church foundations. She said it contain...

Read more: Bruton Parish Church on Qualla

Image: Sarah Stierch | CC BY 4.0