Qualla: Christ Episcopal Church (Winchester, Virginia)

Christ Episcopal Church (Winchester, Virginia): Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0. Lord Fairfax died in 1781 at his Greenway Court hunting lodge twelve miles southeast of Winchester, having lived through the Revolution as the last great proprietor of the Northern Neck - the man who claimed every acre between the Potomac and the Rappahannock. He had remained loyal to the Crown but was old enough by then that the new republic let him be. They buried him in the chancel of the Anglican church in Winchester. Forty-seven years later, the parish tore down the building over his grave and asked Robert Mills - the architect of the Washington Monument - to design a new one. His remains have since been moved to a tomb in the church courtyard. The building Mills drew still stands.

Image: Sarah Stierch | CC BY 4.0

Christ Episcopal Church (Winchester, Virginia): A Parish on the Edge of Settlement

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Antony-22, CC BY-SA 4.0. Christ Church traces its founding to 1738, when the Virginia General Assembly created Frederick County from the western part of Orange County. Frederick Parish was its established church, and at its peak it covered half the Shenandoah Valley and a slice of what would become West ...

Image: Antony-22 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Christ Episcopal Church (Winchester, Virginia): Balmain's Four Decades

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eruditefello at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. After the Revolution disestablished the Church of England in Virginia, most parishes collapsed. Frederick Parish did not, largely because of the Reverend Alexander Balmain, a Scotsman who had trained for the Presbyterian ministry at St. Andrews before crossing the Atlantic. Balma...

Image: Eruditefello at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Christ Episcopal Church (Winchester, Virginia): Mills's Building

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit APK, CC BY-SA 4.0. Balmain died in 1821. By 1827 the parish had grown enough to demand a larger building. The vestry hired Robert Mills, the South Carolina-born architect who was then working in Washington on the federal buildings that would culminate in the Washington Monument. Mills's wife Eliza ...

Image: APK | CC BY-SA 4.0

Christ Episcopal Church (Winchester, Virginia): Winchester Changed Hands

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Karen Nutini, CC BY-SA 3.0. During the Civil War, Winchester changed hands somewhere between 70 and 80 times, more than any other town in America. Three major battles were fought in or around the city. The rector of Christ Church, William Meredith, enlisted as a private in the 4th Virginia Cavalry within we...

Image: Karen Nutini | CC BY-SA 3.0

Christ Episcopal Church (Winchester, Virginia): What Remains Inside the Building

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 4.0. Lord Fairfax was originally buried in the chancel in 1781, but his remains were relocated over the years and now rest in a brick tomb in the church courtyard, beneath a marker that acknowledges his singular place in Virginia history. Memorial plaques line the walls - to Alexander...