The Gothic Revival Chapel of the Cross on the old Annandale Plantation was built in 1852 with slave labor. It was consecrated in 1854 by the first Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi. It served as an Episcopal Church until falling onto disrepair and being declared extinct by the Episcopal Diocese in 1904. It was reactivated in 1911, and added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It is still an active church today.
From the Chapel of the Cross website: (
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"The Chapel
The story of the Chapel of the Cross begins as the story of the Johnstone family of North Carolina. John T. Johnstone and his brothers, William and Samuel, began traveling to the new state of Mississippi in the 1820’s purchasing land.
John initially bought 524 acres where the Chapel sits today from Mr. Jonathan Coleman who had a log cabin situated one hundred yards from the present day Chapel. Mr. Johnstone remodeled and enlarged this log cabin and then moved his wife, Margaret, and his daughters, Francis and Helen here in 1841. He named his plantation, Annandale, after his ancestral home in Scotland.
Mr. Johnstone like his brothers came to an early death at forty-seven in 1848. Margaret buried her husband in the flower garden of the log cabin home. Never losing sight of the plans she and John made, Margaret began the construction on the Chapel of the Cross soon after her husband’s death.
The Chapel is an example of Gothic Revival design with a lofty bell tower, tall narrow windows, and arched entrances. Designed by the noted architect, Frank Wills (an Englishman who would become the official architect of the New York Ecclesiastical Society), the Chapel’s bricks were slave made “river bottom” bricks, cast on-site from area clay.
Inside, the beams and the floors were hand-hewn from oak trees growing on the plantation. Work was done principally by the labor force from Ingleside and Annandale plantations with the exception of some artisans such as plasterers and brick masons. These people were brought in from other sources available in the state. The pews and chancel furnishings were imported through a furniture dealer in New Orleans. The baptismal font was cut from three pieces of Italian stone and also imported. The pipe organ was shipped from Philadelphia. The outcome of the project was an exquisite Gothic chapel, complete in every detail, occupying ten acres on a low hill set amid towering oak trees.
Consecrated on July 19, 1852, by William Mercer Green, the first Episcopal Bishop of Mississippi, the Chapel thrived for the next ten years, holding services regularly and providing religious education to all. Many, both slave and free, were baptized, confirmed, and buried at the Chapel. All worshipped together each Sunday.
The Chapel survived the Civil War with only a loss of dignity—its bell was melted down for Confederate bullets. In the years after the Civil War, however, the Chapel began a slow decline that would last for fifty years. It suffered from bouts of neglect and abandonment until it was finally declared extinct by the Diocese of Mississippi in 1904.
This prompted a Johnstone family member to intervene on its behalf, when Margaret Britton Parsons, granddaughter of John and Margaret Johnstone persuaded the Episcopal Dioceses of Mississippi to reactivate the Chapel in 1911, and the Chapel opened its doors once again.
In 1976, the Chapel underwent a restoration, and in 1979, the United States Department of the Interior awarded a $50,000 grant toward another restoration; Mississippians rallied to the cause with the annual “Day in the Country”; monies were given from all over the United States; and today the Chapel of the Cross is not only a historic treasure listed on the National Register, but also a thriving, welcoming house of worship with an active congregation. The Chapel became a parish in 1985.
The Chapel of the Cross reflects the deep, rich roots of our Episcopal faith, the founding families of this parish, and members of our parish community."