Saturday, July 10, 2010

Merchant's Hope

Yesterday, the girls and I took my dad, who is now 89, to put flowers on my mom's grave at Merchant's Hope Cemetery in Prince George County.  Right next to the cemetery is Merchant's Hope Church.  Dad told us some of the church's history -- and we love history -- so we stopped and took pictures while he told us about it.  It is the oldest Episcopalian church still standing and still being used as a house of worship in America. It was completed in 1657 and was named after the Merchant's Hope Plantation. It was also the name of an English ship, Merchant’s Hope, which sailed the ocean regularly from England to the Colonies. Even though the church has undergone renovation and restoration, it is virtually the same structure today as it was when it was built 50 years after Jamestown was settled!  A prized possession of the church is its Bible, a 1639 New Testament joined to a 1640 Old Testament.  It is a beautiful church, and we hope to return another time when we can schedule a tour of the inside!

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