South River Friends Meetinghouse - Lynchburg, Virginia - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Quaker’s settled in the area that would become Lynchburg in the mid-1750’s. The first worship services was held as early as 1754 and the South River Meeting House was organized in 1757. Their first meeting house was a log structure that was built nearby on land donated by Sarah Clark Lynch. The original log building burned in 1768 and a second frame building was constructed on the original site. In 1791 the congregation had out grown the small frame building and the current stone structure was built on land donated by John Lynch, who was the founder of Lynchburg.

Due to economic hardship in the 1820’s many Quakers moved west to Ohio, and by the middle 1840’s the small congregation dissolved. The stone meeting house was abandoned and fell into a state of disrepair.

During the Civil War, Union Soldiers under the command of General David Hunter camped in and around the ruins of the stone church. General Hunter and his staff, which included two future Presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes, and William McKinley, established headquarters at nearby Sandusky.

In 1899, local Presbyterians purchased the property and after extensive renovations, used the stone building as their church. The Presbyterian held their first service in the renovated building in 1901 and continued to use the restored church 1950, when the adjacent larger church was built.

Today the South River Friends Meetinghouse is part of the Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church and is maintained as a historic landmark. Visitors may contact the secretary office at the adjacent Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church for a self-guided tour of the Old Meeting House. The secretary’s office is open Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Guided tours with costumed docents are available with three days advance notice, Monday through Friday. To arrange a tour, visitors should call the church office at (434) 239-2548.

Source/Credit: Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church

Street address: 5810 Fort Avenue Lynchburg, Va. United States 24502 County / Borough / Parish: Lynchburg Year listed: 1875 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture, Engineering, Event Periods of significance: 1759 -1799 Historic function: Religious Structure Current function: Religious Structure, Historic Landmark Privately owned?: yes Hours of operation: From: 9:00 AM To: 3:00 AM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Please give the date and brief account of your visit. Include any additional observations or information that you may have, particularly about the current condition of the site. Additional photos are highly encouraged, but not mandatory.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/26/2011 garmin_geek visited it 04/24/2011 VaRiverPyrate visited it

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