- self as the center of influence over the homes of the early
Virginians; sheltered and blessed the First Representative Legislative Assembly in America; impressed herself through parish names and parish bounds upon the geography as well as the social conditions of the state; established a spiritual foundation for the upbuilding of national integrity and righteousness; and founded a College which was conducted for well-nigh two centuries under the direction of the Church and under the care of its learned and godly ministers.
Period of Extension and Cumulative Influence—1700-82
A sense of permanence seemed now to have possessed the minds of the people. The vision had become wider. The thoughts of our forefathers were embodied in their building. This is seen in the Colonial Churches of the century that remain. The removal of the Government from Jamestown to Williamsburg led to the rebuilding of Bruton Parish Church. This was done with large thoughts, and with a far reaching purpose in 1710. Its walls and massive timbers tell of a vision of usefulness unbounded by a single century. In 1737 old Blandford Church was erected and has recently been restored. St. Paul's Church, Norfolk, embodying to-day the Canon ball fired from Lord Dunmore's fleet, was erected in 1739, and St. John's, Hampton, in 1727. Hungars and St. George's, Pungoteague, on the Eastern Shore, Trinity Church, Portsmouth, and Grace Church, Yorktown, still stand within the bounds of the Diocese of Southern Virginia as memorials of the faith and devotion of the Churchmen of this century. Many of these old churches have been destroyed by fire, or have succumbed, through neglect to the disintegrating touch of time. In the Diocese of Virginia, Christ Church, Lancaster, 1732, St. John's Church, Richmond, Christ Church, Alexandria, Pohick and Falls Church in Fairfax, Ware and Abingdon in Gloucester, St. Peter's, New Kent, and others of this period have remained.
