Near Fredericksburg in Stafford County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)

Hartwood Presbyterian Church

American Presbyterian and Reformed Historical Site

Photographed By Kevin White, August 30, 2007

1. Hartwood Presbyterian Church Marker

Inscription. Organized in June 1825 by the Winchester Presbytery as Yellow Chapel Church, the brick church was constructed between 1857 and 1859. It became Hartwood Presbyterian Church in 1868. During the Civil War an engagement took place here on 25 Feb. 1863. Confederate Brig. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, commanding detachments of the 1st, 2d, and 3d Virginia Cavalry Regiments, defeated a Union force and captured 150 men. The interior wooden elements and furnishings of the church suffered considerable damage during the war, but were replaced. The building was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 and it is an American Presbyterian Reformed Historical Site.

Erected 2004 by Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number E-126/129.)

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Churches & Religion • Military • War, US Civil. In addition, it is included in the American Presbyterian and Reformed Historic Sites, and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) series lists. A significant historical month for this entry is June 1825.

Location. 38° 24.107′ N, 77° 34.02′ W. Marker is near Fredericksburg, Virginia, in Stafford County. Marker is on Hartwood Church Road

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(County Route 705), on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 50 Hartwood Church Rd, Fredericksburg VA 22406, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Repeated Surprises (here, next to this marker); A Road from Yesteryear (within shouting distance of this marker); The Little Red Barn (approx. 0.2 miles away); Gold Mining in Stafford County (approx. 0.3 miles away); Mt. Olive Baptist Church (approx. 3.1 miles away); Civilian Conservation Corps Company 2363 (approx. 3.8 miles away); Fredericksburg Campaign (approx. 3.8 miles away); The Mud March (approx. 3.8 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Fredericksburg.

Regarding Hartwood Presbyterian Church. Hartwood Presbyterian Church, which includes the site of the Hartwood Chapel, or Yellow Chapel, and the graveyard, began its life as a chapel-of-ease of Brunswick Parish about 1767. The oldest surviving recording of the church’s existence cited it as a landmark in orders for repairing the road that ran by it. The half acre containing the chapel was sold to the parish in 1771 by Arthur Morson for five shillings “current money of the colony of Virginia,” subject to an annual payment of “one pepper corn, on St. Michael’s Day, if demanded.” Arthur Morson, who emigrated from Scotland

Photographed By Kevin White, August 30, 2007

2. Hartwood Presbyterian Church Marker

to Virginia and fought in the Revolutionary War, received a 5,000-acre crown grant that was known as the Morson Tract. He and his wife Marion Andrew Morson are listed among the founding members of Yellow Chapel Church, established as “a chapel of ease” so that residents of Hartwood Plantation would not have to navigate the muddy roads to attend services in Fredericksburg.

After the Revolution and the disestablishment of the Anglican Church, Presbyterians began to use the chapel. The Winchester Presbytery officially recognized the Yellow Chapel Church on 2 June 1825. Until 1983 Hartwood was the only Presbyterian church in Stafford County.

Between 1857 and 1859 members of the Irvine family and their slaves built the present building on an acre of land immediately adjacent to the Hartwood Chapel half acre.

The area around Hartwood Presbyterian Church saw many skirmishes and camps in the early years of the Civil War. Like many churches in the area, it saw use as a church, stable and hospital. By the end of the War, everything that was combustible was burned, leaving only the brick walls standing.

In 1872, the Irvine family gave the church building and one acre of land “more or less” to the trustees of Hartwood Church, the present owners, raising the total area of land to about 1.77 acres. They also gave the church its pulpit furniture: a communion table,

Hartwood Presbyterian Church - Front image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Kevin White, August 30, 2007

3. Hartwood Presbyterian Church - Front

Note the plaque below the window. A closeup of the plaque is shown in Picture 5.

two chairs, and a sofa, all of which are still in use.

According to tradition and to a survey of 1965, the present land includes a small portion of land used for a former sighting of the road, which was at one time closer to the church. This road area is shown in Picture 7, with its accompanying marker shown in Picture 6.

Hartwood Presbyterian Church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. This church is also one of 445 American Presbyterian and Reformed Historical Sites registered between 1973 and 2003 by the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS), headquartered in Philadelphia. Approved sites received a metal plaque featuring John Calvin’s seal and the site’s registry number (PHS marker location unknown).

The following text is taken from the Presbyterian Historical Society website:

Forty members of the Fredericksburg Church organized into a new congregation in 1825. Worshiping first in the old Yellow Chapel, built by the Episcopalians in 1767, the Hartwood congregation constructed a red brick building in 1858. Damaged during the Civil War, the church was restored in 1867. The church members added a bell tower in 1940, and educational facilities in 1950 and 1960.

Also see . . .
1. Hartwood Presbyterian Church Website. Includes a brief history and historical

Hartwood Presbyterian Church - Side image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Kevin White, August 30, 2007

4. Hartwood Presbyterian Church - Side

timeline of the church. (Submitted on August 31, 2007, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia.)

2. Inventory - Nomination Form. The completed National Register of Historic Places form describing Hartwood Presbyterian Church. The above information was gleaned from this document and a similiar one for the nearby Hartwood Manor. (Submitted on August 31, 2007, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia.)

3. Hartwood Presbyterian Church NRHP Nomination page. (Submitted on August 20, 2018, by Douglass Halvorsen of Klamath Falls, Oregon.)

Hartwood Presbyterian Church Plaque image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Kevin White, August 30, 2007

5. Hartwood Presbyterian Church Plaque

Plaque is mounted in the front of the church, between the doors and below the window.

A Road from Yesteryear image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Kevin White, August 30, 2007

6. A Road from Yesteryear

The opening in the woods between this white oak and the red oak to its right indicates the existence of a bygone thoroughfare that predates the present Hartwood Presbyterian Church to the east. This road would have crossed the churchyard, run close to the front steps of the church, continued east around the existing woods and connected with what is now Hartwood Road.

The Road from Yesteryear image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Kevin White, August 30, 2007

7. The Road from Yesteryear

... between this white oak and the red oak ...
On picture number 2 above, the Road from Yesteryear can be seen immediately to the left of the Highway Marker

Nearby Hartwood Manor image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Kevin White, September 6, 2007

8. Nearby Hartwood Manor

Hartwood Manor was also constructed on what was known as the Morson Tract. While it has had several additions, the original home was constructed in 1848. Note also the unusual fence composed of distinctive concrete cannon ball-topped columns and white-painted wood rails, constructed in the 1950s.

Credits. This page was last revised on February 2, 2023. It was originally submitted on August 31, 2007, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia. This page has been viewed 2,646 times since then and 39 times this year. Last updated on August 19, 2018, by Douglass Halvorsen of Klamath Falls, Oregon. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. submitted on August 31, 2007, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia. 8. submitted on September 7, 2007, by Kevin W. of Stafford, Virginia. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.