Briery Church is a historic Presbyterian Church located at Briery, Prince Edward County, Virginia. While the congregation dates as far back as 1755, the present building was designed by Rev. Robert Lewis Dabney (1820-1898) and built about 1855. It is a one-story, board-and-batten covered frame structure with a T-shaped plan. It has a steep gable roof with overhanging eaves, three cross gables, and lancet window openings in the Gothic Revival style.[3]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.[1]
The first house of worship was built about 1760.[4] Among the early church leaders were Samuel Stanhope Smith, Drury Lacy, and John Blair Smith, each of whom served as presidents of Hampden-Sydney College. Samuel S. Smith also served as president of Princeton University (then known as College of New Jersey) and John B. Smith also served as first president of Union College in New York. In 1766, funds were raised as part of a plan to 'support the gospel' which enabled the purchase of slaves that were then rented out.[5]
The church remains an active congregation. It belongs to the Presbytery of the Peaks within the Presbyterian Church (USA).[6]
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ "Virginia Landmarks Register". Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ^ Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission staff (April 1969). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Briery Church" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources. and Accompanying photo
- ^ "Briery Presbyterian Church Records, 1760-1892". The Library of Virginia. Library of Virginia. 2001. Retrieved 29 Jun 2016.
- ^ Rivers, Flournoy (1894-01-01). "The Flournoy Family". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 2 (2): 190–213. JSTOR 4241809.
- ^ "Briery Presbyterian Church". Presbytery of the Peaks. 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
Further reading
- Oast, Jennifer (2010). ""The Worst Kind of Slavery": Slave-Owning Presbyterian Churches in Prince Edward County, Virginia". The Journal of Southern History. 76 (4): 867–900. JSTOR 27919282 – via JSTOR.
