The Church of Our Heritage was designed from old St. George's Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, which was erected in 1732 and demolished in 1814, and honors a heritage of patriotism and religious freedom associated with three men who attended the original church: James Monroe, George Washington, and John Paul Jones. James Monroe, who served for many years on St. George's vestry, enlisted in Washington's army at sixteen and devoted his life to serving the nation, later serving as minister to three European countries, as Secretary of War and of State, helping negotiate the Louisiana Purchase, serving two terms as President during the Era of Good Feeling, and proclaiming the Monroe Doctrine in 1823. Fredericksburg always remained his home and St. George's his church. George Washington also served as a vestryman of St. George's; his boyhood home was a nearby farm where he was born, and even after living for years at Mount Vernon, he visited his mother in Fredericksburg, attended St. George's on Sundays, and before his inauguration made his last visit to ask his mother's blessing on the work ahead. John Paul Jones, remembered as the nation's first naval hero, worshipped in St. George's during the years he lived in Fredericksburg before the Revolution and again after independence was won, and is remembered for answering a demand for surrender from his blazing ship with the cry, "I have not yet begun to fight!"