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Historic Scottsville includes five church buildings dating back to the 19th century:  Scottsville Presbyterian Church (ca. 1832); Scottsville Methodist Church (1832); Scottsville Baptist Church (1840); Scottsville Disciples of Christ Church, now Scottsville Museum (1846); and St. John's Episcopal Church (1875).  A sixth congregation, the Union Baptist Church on Hardware Road, was organized in 1865 for black worship.  From the late nineteenth century through the 1920's, churches continued their profound influence on this river community.  According to a federal census of religious bodies taken in 1916, approximately 75 percent of all Albemarle County citizens over ten years of age said they were church members, compared to 61 percent of Virginia's population as a whole.  For Scottsville church members, church life intertwined with social life.  Young men often escorted their beaus to Sunday services while christenings, marriages, Sunday School classes, revivals, church suppers, and picnics afforded other opportunities to cement friendships.

Please click on each image for a larger view and more information.

Reverend Peyton Harrison, Scottsville Presbyterian Church Elder and Donor

Reverend Peyton Harrison, ca. 1855 Date:  ca. 1855

Image Number:  AW02cdAW01

Comments:  In the late 1820's, there was a resurgence of religion in southern Albemarle County, VA, and a six-member congregation was formed in the nearby village of Warren, just west of Scottsville.  Peyton Harrison, a lawyer and owner of Belle Grove (later Valmont Farm), influenced the congregation to move from Warren to Scottsville in 1830.  As the church grew to 40 members in Scottsville, Harrison also provided the needed lot for a new Presbyterian Church in Scottsville and helped finance its construction in 1832.  He served as elder of the church and also financed the construction of a parsonage to house the church pastor and his family when such housing in rapidly growing Scottsville was unavailable.  With the revival of religion and the growth of the Presbyterian congregation in Scottsville, Harrison, too, felt the call to join the Presbyterian ministry.  Near the close of 1833, Harrison sold Belle Grove to his brother, Carter H. Harrison, and moved to the seminary with his family.  He served as a Presbyterian minister for the rest of his life, passing away in Baltimore, MD, in 1887.



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Dr. James Turner Barclay, Minister and Missionary

Dr. James Turner Barclay, 1857 Date:  ca. 1857

Image Number:  JB01cdJB01

Comments:  Dr. James Turner Barclay was a trained pharmacist, medical doctor, and the first minister of the Scottsville Disciples of Christ church in 1846.   Dr. Barclay continued his ministry and lived next door in the Barclay House until 1851 when he went to Jerusalem as his Church's first missionary.  See the larger image for more information about Dr. Barclay and his life and accomplishments.



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Scottsville Baptist Church

Scottsville Baptist Church Date:  ca. 1907

Image Number:  Roll6Neg11A

Comments:  Scottsville Baptists built their red-brick church high on Harrison Street in 1840.  In the early 1900's, the Baptist congregation added a wide porch with four white pillars across the front of the Church.  See the larger image for more information and another Burgess postcard of the Church.


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Baptist Sunday School Children

Baptist Sunday School Children

Date:  July 21, 1908

Image Number:  Roll5Neg22A

Comments:  Members of the Scottsville Baptist Sunday School pose for a photograph near the Church.  See the larger image for the children's names.


 
 

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Saint John's Episcopal Church

Saint John's Episcopal Church, ca. 1910 Date:  ca 1910

Image Number:  JH10ccdJH01

Comments:  Saint John's Episcopal Church is located on Lot 169 at the north corner of Bird and Harrison Street in Scottsville.  This white frame church with Gothic windows and a scrollwork vergeboard was built in 1875 and was the second church in Saint Anne's Parish.

 

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Fluvanna Baptist Church

Fluvanna Baptist Church Date:  ca. 1920

Image Number:  B01cd18

Comments:  The congregation of Fluvanna Baptist Church gathered for a group photo by William Burgess, taken just outside their meeting house.  The church, built in 1852, is located a short distance to the east of Scottsville on SR 6.

 

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Scottsville Methodist Church

Scottsville Methodist Church Date:  1920

Image Number:  B58dcdB16

Comments:  The Scottsville Methodist Episcopal Church was completed on the north side of Main Street in 1833; later it became known as the Scottsville Methodist Church.  In 1927, the Church underwent renovations to add 14 Sunday school rooms and a new front with bell tower.  See the larger image for another photo of this church after the 1927 renovations.  An annex was completed in 1972, but the Church required extensive repair after a terrible fire in 1976.

 
 
 

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Disciples of Christ Church

Disciples of Christ Church

Date:  1936

Image Number:  VHIP_02_0057

Comments:  Built in 1846, the Disciples of Christ Church sits on a hill, overlooking Scottsville's Main Street.  Dr. James Turner Barclay served as its first minister and also constructed the church's first altar and pews.  Today this former church houses Scottsville Museum.


 
 
 
 

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Scottsville Methodist Sunday School Class

Scottsville Methodist Sunday School Class Date:  ca. 1928

Image Number:  RRH01cdRRH01

Comments:  The Young Man's Sunday School Class poses with Mrs. Sprague, their teacher, just outside Scottsville Methodist Church.  See the larger image for the names of class members.

  

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Reverend James Ellison Daniel, Scottsville Methodist Minister

Rev. James Ellison Daniel, 1951 Date:  December 6, 1951

Image Number:  RS51cdRS09

Comments:  Reverend James Ellison Daniel served as pastor of the Scottsville Methodist Church until ill health forced him to retire in 1925.  Although officially in an inactive status, Rev. Daniel officiated at countless weddings, baptisms, and funerals in the years that followed.  When this photo was taken in 1951, a more active 'retired' man would have been hard to find.  See the larger image for more information about Rev. Daniel.

  

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Scottsville Presbyterian Church

Scottsville Presbyterian Church Date:  August 17, 1969

Image Number:  B251cd25

Comments:  The congregation of Scottsville Presbyterian Church was founded on October 18, 1827, and this two-story brick church, located on Lot 148 on Bird Street, was completed in 1832.  The Presbyterian Church is the oldest church building in Scottsville.

 
 
 
 
 

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Christ Church, Glendower

Christ Episcopal Church, Glendower Date:  2001

Image Number:  CG02cdCG01

Comments:  Christ Church, Glendower is located just east of Keene, Virginia, and about 4 miles northwest of Scottsville.  Erection of this church began in 1831 and is the work of William B. Phillips, a Jeffersonian workman who designed and built a variety of homes and public buildings in his mentor's mode.  Christ Church was consecrated on July 28, 1832. 

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Union Baptist Church

Union Baptist Church Date:  2001

Image Number:  CG04cdCG01

Comments:  Union Baptist Church is the oldest black congregation in the Scottsville area and was organized in 1865 by the Reverends Henry Smith and J.A. Doll.  Located on Hardware Street, this church was designed by Rev. Houston Perry and constructed by Perry and John Dickerson of nearby Columbia, VA.  The building was completed in 1954 and replaced the congregation's smaller, woodframe church further down the hill near the Union Baptist cemetery.


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Antioch Baptist Church, Scottsville

Antioch Baptist Church, Scottsville, VA Date:  2016

Image Number:  CG1140cdCG2016

Comments:  Antioch Baptist Church is located in Fluvanna County about 13 miles northeast of Scottsville near the intersection of Antioch Road and Rolling Road. The church was organized in 1858 by 18 charter members, and five acres of land were deeded to the church trustees by John H. and Mary H. Burgess for a church site. Shortly after that donation, a church was built, and in 1901, the old church building gave way to the central part of the present church building shown above.


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