page_title: Bruton Parish Church
section_title: American Revolution, decline
hierarchical_section_title: Bruton Parish Church / History / American Revolution, decline
caption_attribution_description: English: Burial at Bruton Parish Church at Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
context_page_description: Bruton Parish Church is located in the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1674 by the consolidation of two previous parishes in the Virginia Colony, and remains an active Episcopal parish. The building, constructed 1711–15, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as a well-preserved early example of colonial religious architecture.
context_section_description: As the American Revolutionary War began in 1776, the power of both the monarchy and the church as an institution controlled by the government came into question in the colony. Among the Virginia leaders of the time who attended Bruton Parish Church were Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, Patrick Henry, and George Mason.
  The capital was relocated to Richmond in 1781 for greater security in the conflict with Great Britain, and when the new Constitution of the United States and the accompanying Bill of Rights were adopted, the concepts of Separation of Church and State and Freedom of Religion changed the role of Bruton Parish Church in its community. With the end of colonial rule, Bruton Parish Church declined just as the city did.
  However, the church grew anew as part of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, which became the first autonomous Anglican province outside the British Isles. In the new Commonwealth of Virginia, those attending Bruton Parish Church did so by choice, and the parish survived to modern times, where it is still active. Over the years, various changes were made to the church fabric, including reversing the interior to place the altar at the west, instead of the east, end. In the early 20th century, an important restoration took place.
caption: Burial at the church
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