Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-15

the Goth OF this month-and may
the skies and the winds of heaven
be kind that afternoon!-Time is
going to be turned backward in its
+ flight. Pohick Church, of Truro
Parish, in nearby Fairfax County
is to have the corner stone laid for the vestry
house that planned by Col. George wash
ington in the year 1772. Men have come ana
gone; kingdoms have risen to greatness ana
passed away; the American Colonists OF the
King of England dsowned their King ana
triumphed under the leadership OF that same
George Washington, and are become the
Fathers of our great Republic, in the achieve
ment of which the Virginia gentlemen who
served on Pohick Vestry with the already dis
tinguished military hero also inscribed their
names in the annals of their country.
A notable company will gather around the
old church for the exercises of the afternoon,
planned as a fitting celebration Of the laying
of the cornerstone. This deed, so long awaited
is no longer Virginia parochial affair, but OF
far-spreading interest. Pohick Church may
say in company with one of the States great
sons. st went into the Virginian; came
out of the an American" This beautiful
old religious edifice on the Virginia roadside is
inseparately connected with the life OF the
Father of His Country and is therefore held In
firm affection by Americans.
On the never ceasing pilgrmages to Mount
Vernon, not only of Americans, but OF people,
humble and distinguished, of every nationality
under heaven this ancient brick church-a
beautiful example of the architecture and work.
manship of its day--is pointed out and shown
with tender affection and pride as George
Washington's parish church which he and his
family attended for many years, and his great
pew kept Just as in his lifetime takes the mind
swiftly back to the days when the family from
Mount Vernon" sat decorouSly within its
confines.
Pohick Church was built during the years
176s-7o two miles from the site of the first
building and is six miles from the mansion at
Mount Vernon. Col. Washington was a MEM
Der of the Building Committee, and as such
chose the site for the building, drew the plans,
and arranged the seating He was one of the
vestrymen for 20 years and a warden Of the
parish, and for the greater part Of that time
was q regular attendant at the services; &C
cording to Bishop Meade, never permitting the
weather or company to keep him from church"
His diaries show frequent entries: went to
Pohick Church." and in later years he also had
o pew and a vestryship at Christ Church In
Alexandria. There was not an office anywhere
that did not desire this at its head!
Pohick was near his beloved home, and as has
been shown, most peculiarly his own He took
earnest participation in the affairs of the
parish, regarding his Offices as veStryman and
warden as sacred obligations. His father,
Augustine Washington, and his brother Law
renee had both been vestrymeI OF Truro
Parish
At the time of building the church it was
evidently not realized by the vestrymen that
less sacred edifce on the premises would be
found almost necessary for the conduct OF
parish affairs both of business and social ma
tue. Such building at that time was called
the Vestry House, and now known the Parish
House, and not set -conSecrated-to
worship exclusively but used a center of
parish life. Two years had not passed before
such building was urgently needed, and the
vestry met to take action-159 years ago!
The order stands recorded in the old VeStry
Book whose pages are following with the pass
ing of time and whose ink is not so black as it
was in 1772. sThe book is now kept for safety
in the Library of Congress. The following is the
order which was signed that June day long
ago and the names of the veStrymen who
signed it:
June 5, 1772. ordered that Vestry House
be built at this Church (Pohick) and that the
wardens do agree with workmen to build the
same. Lee Massey, r. T. P; c. Mason, G. W.;
Edward Payne, c. w; G. Washington, Daniel
McCarty, E. Ellzey Alex. Henderson, Thos Ford,
Pet WAGNER, Marion Cockburn Recorded by
John Barry. elk. ".
The VeStrymen wrote their names carefully,
for the honor of their parish, and laid their
Quill pens aside and shook sand the writ
ing to blot it. They mounted their good Vir-
GINA bay horses and rode away home, never
dreaming that they and their children and
their childrens children would live their lives
and never see the fruition of that mornings
work, nor that it would be carried out a century
and half later by the vestry of Pohick Church
Tor 1881. On this occasion the memory of
that early time in the history of this pre-
Revolutionary church. and all that Pohick has
stood for, will be present in the minds and