Hallowed history

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

St. John’s Episcopal Church members always knew they had a historic building.
Now they’ve got the designation to prove it.
In late June, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources informed the Wytheville church that had been approved for inclusion in the Virginia Landmarks Register.
“We felt like it was going to pass, but we were keeping our fingers crossed,” said Carter Beamer, a member of the church since 1950 and the leader of the church’s drive for a spot on the register.
The state’s nomination will be forwarded on to the National Park Service for the church also to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Beamer said the national decision won’t be made for another two months, but he added that state officials told him that it’s “almost automatic” for properties with a state-approved recommendation to make the national list.
Once the expected national approval comes through, Beamer said the church plans to erect a plaque marking the church’s official landmark status.
St. John’s first was organized in 1846. Construction on the main church building, which still stands at 275 E. Main St. today, began in 1856 and the structure was dedicated in 1858.
The church is the oldest standing place of worship in Wytheville and has been in continuous use for weekly church services since its inception, states a press release from the Department of Historic Resources.
According to a church history written by local historian Mary Kegley in honor of St. John’s 150th anniversary in 1996, the first entries in the church records date to August 1846.
One of the church’s most notable historical contributions was its role in fostering black/white relations after the Civil War.
On Aug. 7, 1881, the Rev. J. H. M. Pollard, a black Episcopal minister, preached to St. John’s white congregation – the first recorded time of such an event occurring at a predominately white Episcopal church in the state of Virginia.
Kegley referred to the occasion as “an unheard of opportunity in Virginia at that time” in her church history.
“It was an unusual event,” Beamer said. “But a lot of unusual events have occurred in the church.”
He ticked off the baptism of Edith Bolling, who later in life became first lady of the United States as the wife of President Woodrow Wilson, and the use of the church basement as a hospital for Confederate soldiers as other noteworthy occurrences in St. John’s venerable history.
Beamer said he broached the idea of trying to get the church listed as a historical landmark back in 1998.
“I was going off the vestry church board at that time and I agreed to, if the vestry wanted me to, to go ahead and see if we might get the church listed on the state and national historic registry,” he said. “I kind of dropped the ball and didn’t do anything until 2005 and then I thought I better get busy if I’m going to get something done because of my seniority.”
Once Beamer delved into the application process in earnest three years ago, he found the work to be overwhelming for just one person.
He initially teamed up with the church’s rector at the time, Leland Smith, but after Smith’s death in December 2006, Beamer turned to some outside help in the way of Barbara L. Umberger of the Wythe County Historical Society.
“It’s a rather long process and difficult for most people to get all this stuff together in exactly the form that they want it,” Beamer said.
Umberger said she found St. John’s history fascinating.
“I just was really happy to help out Mr. Beamer and St. John’s because I enjoy discovering things,” she said.
After getting all the paperwork together and submitting a preliminary application last year, Beamer had hopes that the hard part of the process had ended.
Then came the bad news.
“We were turned down on the preliminary essentially but advised that we could pursue it further by providing additional information and so forth,” he said. “We worked at it a long time and didn’t want to give up when we were three-fourths of the way there I thought.”
While businesses or private property deemed historic landmarks get certain tax breaks for rehabilitation projects, Beamer said the church’s nonprofit status means it already receives the tax relief.
Instead, getting the church listed simply was a “matter of pride” for Beamer.
“It’s just a matter of trying to get recognition of the historic nature of your building or church, in our case,” Beamer said.
St. John’s becomes the 19th site in Wythe County to be included on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the first since Graham’s Forge Mill in Max Meadows was added in March 2005.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .