As Times Changed…

Four years after landing at Jamestown, colonists began to migrate west, establishing several small Anglican parishes along the way. When there were enough to consolidate, the parishes of Weyanoke, Wallingford, and Wilmington merged to become Westover Parish. Hence, the beginning of Westover Parish is recognized as 1613.

The predecessor of the existing Westover Church was constructed on Westover Plantation between 1630 and 1637. Around 1730, the construction of the present Westover Church was completed at its current site on Herring Creek approximately 1.5 miles north of the plantation.

The end of support by public taxation at the start of the Revolutionary War, along with the disestablishment of the Church in 1784 and widespread prejudice against Anglicans as English loyalists, were devastating to all Anglican Churches at the time. Bereft of clergy who had fled for their safety, congregations and parish lands were confiscated or abandoned.

For some 30 years, worship at Westover Church was interrupted and services of the Episcopal Church of Virginia lapsed completely in Charles City County. Services at Westover were revived around 1833 at which time the church structure was restored. The church again was destroyed and desecrated during the Civil War when Federal troops used it as a stable. They also removed most of the gravestones in the cemetery to use them as tent floors, which is why no pre-Civil War gravestones exist today. The church once more was restored to service in 1867 and has been in use ever since. 

Since its earliest days, Westover has been a house of worship for anyone seeking a spiritual home. Today, the parish remains a vibrant and vital part of the community it serves.