Christ Church

John Carter had the first church built on this site, and it was completed in 1670 after his death. In 1730, his son Robert “King” Carter, colonial Virginia’s most powerful planter, proposed to build a brick church here at his own expense, and the vestry of Christ Church Parish accepted. Finished in 1735, Christ Church is the best-preserved and most finely crafted of colonial Virginia’s Anglican parish churches. Its detailed brickwork, particularly the molded-brick doorways, distinguishes the exterior, while the interior includes original high-backed pews, a triple-decker pulpit, a walnut altarpiece, and stone pavers. The elaborately carved tombs of Robert Carter and his two wives stand in the churchyard.

Virginia · United States