St. John’s Church
The Venerable Survivor
When Confederate Gen. John B. Magruder learned that the Federals intended to house troops and escaped slaves in Hampton, he burned down the town. Local soldiers, led by Capt. Jefferson C. Phillips, completed this “loathsome yet patriotic act,” on the evening of August 7, 1862. Phillips reported that his men “went immediately to work. … Flames were seen bursting from the buildings on all sides till it appeared that the town was one mass of flames from one end to another.” Federal Lt. Charles Brewster, shocked by this scorched-earth policy, wrote, Such a picture of war and desolation I never saw nor thought of and hope I shall not again. I pass through the courtyard round the celebrated Hampton [St. John’s] Church, the oldest one in use in the United States, it is completely destroyed all but the walls and they are useless.
The walls remained strong enough to be repaired, with donations from all over the country. In 1869 services resumed, and St. John’s Church stands today as the only building to survive the burning of Hampton.
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Henry Cary, Jr., built St. John’s Church, the oldest building in Hampton, in 1728. It is the fourth such structure to serve Elizabeth City Parish, which was established in 1610 and is America’s oldest active parish in the Anglican Communion. St. John’s has the oldest communion service in continuous use in America; it was made in London in 1618 and assigned to the parish in 1627. The church’s cruciform plan features fine Flemish-bond brickwork with glazed headers. St. John’s suffered greatly from wars. It was damaged during the bombardment of Hampton in 1775, and British troops ransacked it and used it as a barracks during the War of 1812. Renovated in 1830, the church faced its greatest threat during the Civil War.
Marker is at the intersection of West Queens Way and High Court Lane, on the right when traveling east on West Queens Way.
Courtesy hmdb.org
