Happy anniversary, Bruton Parish Church
Colonial Williamsburg’s Bruton Parish Church has to be one of the most photographed buildings in Williamsburg. Sitting on the main street – Duke of Gloucester Street –it is about halfway between the College of William and Mary and the Historical Capitol Building. The Governor’s Palace (probably the second most photographed building) is around the corner.
In an area where “old” means the 17th century, Bruton Parish deserves this designation. It was built in the 1670s and dedicated in 1684. Parishioners included Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, Patrick Henry, and George Mason.
My 8th great-uncle Edmund Pendleton is buried beneath the floor of the church. I visit Uncle Ed regularly. I didn’t know about Uncle Ed until about eight years ago.
Some of the events planned for the Bruton Parish 350th anniversary celebration will be joined with the broader community events sponsored by Virginia 250 – the planned commemoration of the 250 anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776
On January 21 of this year, the church had a service where parishioners attended in traditional colonial attire, and they celebrated with prayers from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
On April 27, the church will hold its annual John D., Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Concert, featuring music old and new: Handel’s O Come, Let Us Sing (c. 1717) and Andrew Carter’s Musick’s Jubilee (1993).
The organizing committee for these events is continuing to look into ideas for the commemoration including a possible time capsule, participating in 350 random acts of kindness, and creating a commemorative hashtag.
The article goes on to note that the partnerships with Special Collections at the Swem Library and the Rockefeller Library as well as Colonial Williamsburg and William & Mary have been enormously helpful to the Bruton Parish committee planning these events.