View the Orange County community page

Rural Presbyterian church offers visual praise with its spectacular interior designs

A visual surprise awaits first-time visitors to historic Mitchells Presbyterian Church in Culpeper County. By Patricia LaLand Rural Presbyterian church offers visual praise with its spectacular interior designs

Date published: 9/4/2004

ITCHELLS PRESBYTERIAN Church sits on a quiet country road in Culpeper County between a cornfield and a school building that dates from the early 1900s. The clean lines of the church's dignified Gothic form belie the breathtaking interior murals that visually stun visitors who see them for the first time. It seems to be a displaced piece of Tuscany, but to its loyal congregation of some 100 members, it is home.

On a recent day, Pastor John Grotz looked thoughtful for a moment when asked how he would describe Mitchells Church. He called it "a small country church that is active and lively, with participation from all age groups and missions trips as far away as Washington, D.C., West Virginia and New York City."

That statement surely would have pleased the Rev. Samuel Davies Hoge, who, in a letter dated June 8, 1814, stated, "Presbyterianism is a very rare article in this regionand I have a prospect of collecting a pretty good flock before long."

Followers of John Calvin, mainly from Scotland and Ireland, had begun migrating into Pennsylvania and Maryland in the mid-18th century. They flowed south and westward across the mountains and through the valleys, raising crops and children, founding towns, starting businesses and establishing Presbyterian churches. Missions went out from these churches into the more remote areas, the missions became chapels, then finally blossomed into churches themselves, and the process started again.

Church records from 1767 to 1781 show mission work being done in Culpeper County and, finally, in 1814 the Bethesda Presbyterian Church was formed at Culpeper Courthouse, later to become the town of Culpeper. This is when Hoge appeared on the scene and expressed his optimistic view on the spread of his faith.

Generally speaking, between the years of 1785 to 1837, there was an optimistic feeling afoot. The Revolutionary War had been won, national heroes created, and finally, in 1787, the Constitution of the United States was ratified. The Statute for Religious Freedom was enacted in 1786 and, in 1791, the Bill of Rights established the separation of church and state.

Follow us on

Date published: 9/4/2004