---

---

Published: September 25, 2008
By Melody Kinser
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

A cool breeze, accompanied by intermittent overcast skies, could not dampen the enthusiasm of those associated with the Polegreen Church on Saturday.

Trees swayed lightly near the frame of the structure on Heatherwood Drive.

It was standing room only for the 11 a.m. ceremonial ribbon cutting and unveiling of the historic highway marker at the site, called the birthplace of religious freedom in Virginia on the Historic Polegreen Church Foundation’s Web site, http://www.historicpolegreen.org.

Bob Bluford, president of the foundation, started on the project in the 1970s. In the 1970s, archeologists from Virginia Commonwealth University undertook an eight-week project at the site.

With a chuckle, Bluford was quick to point out that “they found it (the church) on the first day they were here.”

He recalled the events leading up to Saturday’s designation.

After the government interceded in a planned project by a developer in the Manassas area, a Civil War Commission was formed with hearings being held in Richmond.

“Please help us do something before the whole county is under concrete and asphalt,” he said.

He knew there was a writer in the audience, but did not know what publication he was affiliated. Six months later, Bluford received a phone call from Barbara Ferguson of Virginia Beach. She had seen the article in the Mid-Atlantic Country magazine and learned of Bluford’s interest in the Polegreen Church.

She told him that her grandfather, Lt. Thomas Ferrell, had been at the church site during the Civil War and had drawn three sketches of the building.

Her nephew, Norman Albright of Bryn Mawr, Pa., discovered them when they were in the process of selling Ferrell’s house.

Ferrell’s military papers, along with the sketches, were found in bags in the 1970s. He had kept a 3x5 sketch book, with the three sketches — one exterior and two interior — dated May 29, 1826 Polegreen Church.

The family’s first question was: Where in the world is Polegreen Church?

“The magazine article prompted Mrs. Ferguson to call me,” Bluford said. “She thought I was the pastor.” His wife June explained the church no longer existed and had been burned down during the Civil War.

The sketches, Bluford said, were “in detail you wouldn’t imagine.”

The sketches are “extremely valuable” and “in great detail.” They are “a great help to historians and those particularly interested in church history.”

To help celebrate the ribbon-cutting and unveiling, Ferguson and Albright attended Saturday’s ceremonies.

Bluford encouraged involvement and the need for the audience to expand. He said success often comes “primarily by word of mouth.” He did note the role of the Web site, which was recently redesigned.

He said “many want hands-on history. They want to be able to look and touch something.”

Dave Fuller, foundation treasurer, said “Today marks a milestone on the trail of religious freedom.”

Brent Tarter, with the Library of Virginia, said religious liberty was simultaneous with political independence from Great Britain.

Looking around the area, he said, “Patrick Henry as a lad came here. We’ve got civil liberty here.”

Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Department of Historic Resources, said it has been “a phenomenal week in Virginia and America for preservation.”

She participated in the ceremony for the restoration of President James Madison’s home Montpelier in Orange County and on Saturday she was at Polegreen Church.

“It reminds us who we really are,” referring to the church.

Montpelier underwent what she called “a faithful restoration,” while Polegreen Church will take a different route with the “sculptured structure that stands behind us.”

Three members of Boy Scout Troop 503 of Mechanicsville presented the American flag for the crowd to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Also participating in the program were Mary Aylett Payne, foundation vice president, and the Rev. Dr. Richard L. Harrison, former president of the Lexington Theological Seminary and a published historian.

Christopher K. Peace, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, serves as executive director of the foundation.

Melody Kinser
Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of the Department of Historic Resources, and Bob Bluford, president of the Historic Polegreen Church Foundation, unveil the highway marker during ceremonies Saturday morning at the church site.

---