A chapel of ease was built here in 1641 where St. Paul’s Church now stands, and the 1680 survey of the new town designated the site for a church and burying ground, where many of Norfolk’s founders are buried. After Norfolk became a borough by royal charter in 1736, a more substantial Borough Church was erected, completed in 1739, and became a center of community activities. Along with the rest of Norfolk, the church was burned during the British bombardment in January 1776, leaving only the walls standing, but it returned to service about a decade later. A cannonball fired by Lord Dunmore’s fleet remains embedded in the south wall. The building was repaired and reconsecrated as St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in 1832. Important events in its history include the organization of opposition to the Stamp Act in 1775, a commemoration of the death of George Washington in 1800, and the funeral of General Douglas MacArthur in 1964.
