Pohick Church, previously known as Pohick Episcopal Church, is an Episcopal church in the community of Lorton in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Often called the "Mother Church of Northern Virginia," the church is notable for its association with important figures in early Virginian history such as George Washington and George Mason, both of whom served on its vestry.
The present structure was completed in 1774 and underwent significant renovations beginning in 1874 and 1890. It is two stories tall with a hipped roof and modillioned cornice, with an interior of early Colonial Revival design. The church building was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1968 and National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
The church's archive includes the original vestry book of Truro Parish, dating to 1732; a 1761 prayer book imported by Washington; and the grave marker of Katherine Popkins, dated 1766, which is the lone surviving stone from the graveyard of the congregation's former location in Colchester. Charles Mason Remey had contracted a family mausoleum on the grounds in 1937, but "the Remeum" became the target of vandalism and was demolished beginning in 1973.
History
Early colonial period: first churches
The origins of Pohick Church can be traced to a chapel of ease for Overwharton Parish, which appears to have been built around 1695 in the Woodlawn area of today's community of Mount Vernon. This church, the first in the parish and thus the first in Northern Virginia, was recorded in a 1715 land grant as being along the Potomac Path, the "county main road," which today is U.S. Route 1. In 1730 the parish relocated the church south, building a frame structure, the so-called "church above Occoquan Ferry" near what later became the community of Colchester. The site of this church is today occupied by Cranford United Methodist Church; there, a stone in the churchyard marks the original site of Pohick Church, and a walkway of oversized brick on the property is thought to date from the period of the original building. No other trace of the original structure or its site exists; the last remnant was the cemetery, whose location is known but which was empty of grave markers by 1938.
By 1730, the population of the parish had grown substantially, and it was decided by the Virginia General Assembly to create a new parish, Hamilton, out of Overwharton to better serve the needs of the people. The church at Occoquan became the parish church of this new parish. In 1732 another split was made, and Truro Parish was formed; the church, now renamed "Pohick Church" in honor of its position along Pohick Creek, became the parish church for this new parish as well, being the only church then in the neighborhood. The first person to preach there was the Reverend Lawrence DeButts, who in 1733 was contracted to preach at various points around the parish three times a month for a year, for the sum of eight thousand pounds of tobacco.
Dr. Charles Green was the first rector of Pohick Church; he was successfully sponsored by Augustine Washington, father of George, who was elected to the church vestry in 1735. Green was confirmed to the post in 1736 and traveled to London for ordination, returning to take up his duties the following year. During his tenure as rector Green was involved in a major scandal when he was accused by Lawrence Washington of sexual misconduct with his wife Anne. Washington demanded Green's ouster from his post at the church; Green refused, and brought countersuit against Washington for slander, whereupon the latter demanded an ecclesiastical trial. This took place in the chapel of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg beginning on November 6, 1745; before a verdict was reached, however, Governor William Gooch stepped in and ordered Green to drop the suit, in exchange for which he would not be removed from his post. In the end, the rector remained at Pohick for the next twenty years as a respected clergyman; at his death in 1765 George Washington served as his executor. He was replaced as rector by Lee Massey, a former lawyer who was ordained in 1766 and took up his post the following year. Massey's duties frequently took him to other churches in the parish, and as a result Pohick Church was not open for services every Sunday of the year.