St. John's Church HIUS 390

St. John's Church is a historical site located in the heart of Richmond. This church became famous on March 23, 1775. Patrick Henry gave an electrifying speech during the Second Virginia Convention that was being held in this church building and this speech is one that still rings in the ears of Americans. Henry's famous speech is known as the "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech. He gave this speech to fire up the people of Virginia about the Revolutionary War that was imminent against Great Britain. He wanted not only to rally the colony of Virginia, but all of the thirteen colonies to rally together to fight against Great Britain to have their freedom from the King.

St. John's Church of Richmond was built and established in 1741. The Henrico Parish was a church that was started in Henrico county of Virginia in 1611. This is the oldest known church in America. Throughout the years, there were different rectors and pastors of this church. The church eventually moved its way into the Richmond area and in 1828 the Rev. William F. Lee first started calling the church St. John's Church. 

When the church made its way to Richmond, William Byrd II donated the land that the church and burial grounds sit on in 1741. This church was the first church built in Richmond. This graveyard was the first and only public burial ground of the city of Richmond until 1822 and therefore the cemetery is a mixture of the Parish's graves as well as the city's public graves. This is one reason that Mrs. Elizabeth Arnold Poe is buried here. She was not a member of the church, but when she died of tuberculosis, the city buried her in the cemetery. Out of respect for the church, they buried her as far away from the church as possible and therefore she is buried along the fence line edge of the cemetery. 

St. John's church is a historical site not just because it is where Patrick Henry gave his famous speech, but also because of all the famous people buried in the cemetery. Not only is Edgar Allan Poe's mom buried here, but so are the following: George Wythe, Edward Carrington, Robert Rose, Governor John Page, and Alexander Whitaker. 

St. John's church is still an active church today! They average a couple hundred in attendance each Sunday and this is believed to be the oldest running church in America. During the summer months, they run reenactments of Patrick Henry's speech and as someone who has attended this before, it is an incredible experience! St. John's church is an incredible place to visit and you can easily spend a whole day touring the church, attending the reenactment, and looking at the different graves!

Historical Marker by the Road for St. John's Church

The sign by the entrance into the churchyard

A Picture from the Graveyard of the front of the church

A Panorama of the side of the church. The part that sticks out towards you on the left of the picture is the only part of the church that existed when Patrick Henry gave his speech. That long hallway was all that was there. 

The seat right in the middle of the picture at the end of the row by the door of the pew was where Patrick Henry sat during the Convention before he stood to give his speech standing at that same spot.

This is me sitting in the seat Patrick Henry would have sat in.

Once again the opposite side of the church. The part jetting out towards you is the only part that existed when Patrick Henry was here.

Edgar Allan Poe's mom, Elizabeth Arnold Poe is buried in the cemetery here at St. John's church. This marker was donated by the University of Virginia's Raven Society in 1928 because there was nothing here before that.