Grace Church (Ca Ira, Virginia) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Grace Church |
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Front view of the church, taken in October, 2008
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| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Episcopal Church in the United States of America |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Parish church |
| Year consecrated | 1843 |
| Status | Rarely used |
| Location | |
| Location | Ca Ira, Virginia |
| Municipality | Littleton Parish |
| State | Virginia |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Dabney Cosby |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| General contractor | Valentine Parrish |
| Groundbreaking | 1840 |
| Completed | 1843 |
| Materials | Brick |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| Added to NRHP | October 30, 1980 |
| NRHP Reference no. | 80004185 |
| Designated | June 17, 1980 |
| Reference no. | 024-0009 |
| Website | |
| none | |
Grace Church, also known as Grace Episcopal Church, is an Episcopal church located in Cumberland County, Virginia. It was designed by Dabney Cosby, who used to work with Thomas Jefferson. This church is the only important building left from the old town of Ca Ira. Because of its special design and history, Grace Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 30, 1980. This means it's a very important historical site.
Contents
History of Grace Church
At the start of the 1800s, Ca Ira was a small farming town in Virginia. The state government, called the Virginia General Assembly, officially created the town in 1796. People think its name might come from a popular French song from that time. By 1836, Ca Ira was a busy village with 210 people. It had many homes, stores, a mill, a place to store tobacco, two inns, and a meeting hall for a group called the Masons.
Building the Church
Construction of Grace Church began in 1840. The land for the church was officially recorded in 1843. It was located next to the town of Ca Ira. The church was built to serve the people of the town and families from the large farms, called plantations, nearby.
Valentine Parrish was a very important person in the community. He not only gave the land for the church but also helped build it. The architect, Dabney Cosby, had worked with Thomas Jefferson on buildings at the University of Virginia. Cosby and Parrish had worked together before on the Goochland County Courthouse in 1826. Albert Mann, a slave from the Parrish plantation, is said to have done the woodwork. Reverend Henry Kinckle oversaw the building process.
Church Life and Decline
When Grace Church was finished in 1843, it became the biggest and most impressive building in Ca Ira. It also helped bring back the local church area, called Littleton parish, which had been quiet since 1813. In 1857, a church leader reported that the building was "in constant use."
Even though Ca Ira grew through the 1850s, it started to lose people after the Civil War. The town quickly became smaller in the late 1800s. Grace Church was also left empty during this time. By 1906, only a few buildings, mostly shops, remained.
Restoring the Church
In 1928, people who were descendants of the first church members formed the Ca Ira Restoration Society. This group worked to raise money to fix up the church, and they succeeded. The Society also stopped the church leaders from selling the property. In 1954, they started holding yearly "homecoming services" again, continuing a tradition from the 1930s.
Today, Grace Church is kept in good condition as a special place for the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. To keep its status, it must hold at least one religious service every year. The church was also studied as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey after 1933.
Grace Church Design
Grace Church is a beautiful example of how different building styles were mixed in the mid-1800s. It combines ideas from Roman, Greek, and Gothic Revival architecture designs. It shows great skill in its construction.
Exterior Features
The church is shaped like a temple and measures about 32 feet by 48 feet. There's a small room called a vestry attached to the back. The church sits on a brick foundation with air holes at the bottom. Its walls are made of handmade bricks that are all the same color. The way the bricks are laid, called brickwork, is very precise. The front and east side use a pattern called Flemish bond. The north side uses American bond, and the west side mixes both.
All sides of the church have windows. These windows have three parts and are covered with louvered shutters. Above the main entrance, there's a pointed window design called a lancet transom. A similar design is also seen in the window above the main door, in the tympanum. On the east side, one window is a "jib window," which people say was used for funerals. The roof has a decorative edge called a cornice and two triangular parts called pediments. The roof is covered with Buckingham Slate. Later, small chimneys and a small wooden cross were added to the front pediment in the 1950s.
Interior Features
The inside of the church is one large room. The vestry, which is behind the main worship area, called the sanctuary, was added later. There are two main walkways, called aisles, created by the church's original pews (benches). The pews in the middle are separate, while the ones on the sides are angled and attached to the walls.
There's a balcony, or gallery, on the south wall. It has one main aisle and two smaller ones. The balcony is held up by two Doric columns and other supports called pilasters. Above the columns, there's a decorative border called an entablature with a railing on top. You can reach the balcony by an enclosed stairway on the east side.
The pulpit, where the preacher stands, is on the north wall. It's surrounded by a communion rail. The pulpit has panels and a bold Greek pattern. This design seems to come from a popular builder's book called Practical House Carpenter by Asher Benjamin, first published in 1830. This shows that Dabney Cosby knew about the popular architectural styles of his time. Near the pulpit, there's a baptismal font made of marble. The church also has two old wood-burning stoves made of cast iron. The lower part of the walls, called the dado, is paneled. The floor is unfinished, and the walls and ceiling are covered in plaster.
Church Cemetery
There is a small cemetery behind the church, located on a hill overlooking the Willis River. We don't know exactly when burials started, but the oldest readable headstones are from the 1880s. Many older grave markers are worn away, so we don't know how many people are buried there. Some missing markers have been replaced with new stones, and local families still use the cemetery today. Two soldiers from the Confederate Army are also buried there.
The church, the cemetery, and the land they sit on are all part of the National Register listing. The land is about two-thirds of an acre, following the original property records.
Why Grace Church is Important
Grace Church is important for many reasons. It shows the work of Dabney Cosby and the architectural ideas of Thomas Jefferson that were popular in Virginia in the early 1800s. The building is a well-preserved example of a country church in Virginia, mixing different architectural styles. It is also one of the last and best-preserved reminders of the once-busy town of Ca Ira.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Cumberland County, Virginia, for other nearby historic sites
Images for kids
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Back of the church seen from the cemetery, including the vestry
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A floor plan of the church
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Architectural drawings of some of the interior fittings
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View of the church cemetery.
