Where the Hanover Presbytery Was Founded

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Just north of Richmond, Virginia, in the town of Mechanicsville, a most unusual structure resides. The Historic Polegreen Church — today often the site of weddings and other events — commemorates the church organized by Samuel Davies with an open frame. The original building was destroyed in the War Between the States in 1864. The present structure marks the site of the church, along with the Samuel Morris Reading Room which led to the revival of religion in central Virginia, a story which we have outlined before here.

Historic Polegreen Church (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers)

Historic Polegreen Church (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers)

The historical significance of this place is well explained by markers at the site. Various signs tell the story of the birth of religious liberty here in the once-Anglican colony of Virginia, largely through the labors of Samuel Davies.

(Photo credit: R. Andrew Myers)

(Photo credit: R. Andrew Myers)

It was here that Hanover Presbytery was founded in 1755, the second presbytery in the American South, and the first to be connected to one of the main synods in the North.

(Photo credit: R. Andrew Myers)

(Photo credit: R. Andrew Myers)

Walking through the woods on a sunny day, despite the open-air nature of the structures, one can easily feel as though they were transported in time to a place where crowds assembled to hear the faithful preaching of God’s Word, or gathered simply to hear godly books read and discussed.

Samuel Morris Reading Room (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).

Samuel Morris Reading Room (photo credit: R. Andrew Myers).

The past is not dead, as we say, and here especially the history of colonial Presbyterianism is very much alive in the midst of the central Virginia woods. If you can visit, this historical site is well worth your time. Meanwhile, take time to read the works of Samuel Davies, to better understand the ministry of the Word that once resounded from the pulpit here. The legacy of an 18th century Presbyterian revival speaks to us today in the 21st century.

(Photo credit: R. Andrew Myers)

(Photo credit: R. Andrew Myers)

"Where the Sparrow May Find a House" -- Moses D. Hoge

“Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.” (Ps. 84:3)

The Second Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Virginia is a remarkable architectural achievement that is largely the product of a vision by Moses Drury Hoge, its first pastor.

His nephew and biographer, Peyton Harrson Hoge, references a letter written by Moses to Mrs. Mary Parson Greenleaf in 1846, in which he laid out his dream of a new church building:

Source: Peyton H. Hoge, Moses Drury Hoge: Life and Letters, p. 90.

Source: Peyton H. Hoge, Moses Drury Hoge: Life and Letters, p. 90.

“I go in for a stone Gothic, rubble walls, crevices for moss and ivy; holes where old Time may stick in his memorials; cozy loop-holes of retreat, where the sparrow may find a house for herself … and the swallow a nest for her young.”

The reader will note Peyton’s historical reference to the arrival of English (House) Sparrows to America from Europe in the 1850’s, which became perhaps the first introduction of an invasive species in the United States. Construction of the Second Presbyterian Church was completed in 1848.

Source: Peyton H. Hoge, Moses Drury Hoge: Life and Letters, pp. 98-99.

Source: Peyton H. Hoge, Moses Drury Hoge: Life and Letters, pp. 98-99.

Julius Melton, citing Wyndham B. Blanton, The Making of a Downtown Church, p. 79, adds to our understanding of Moses as a romantic visionary:

Even after getting such a building in 1848, Hoge’s romanticism was not abated. Some years later, after preaching before Queen Victoria, he declined her gift of a handsome Bible, requesting instead a slip of ivy from Westminster Abbey, which he carried home and planted at the base of his Gothic church (Presbyterian Worship in America: Changing Patterns Since 1787, p. 68).