Sundays in Colonial Virginia
Churchgoing and Sundays in Colonial Virginia
In addition to being a time for prayer, churchgoing was also an important social occasion. The hour before Sunday worship was the time for exchanging news and gossip, making business contracts, and meeting friends and family. In addition, it allowed all social classes to “show off” in their finest clothes.
New Jersey-born Philip Vickers Fithian, tutor to the children of Virginia gentleman Robert Carter from 1773 to 1774, wrote in his journal
“A Sunday in Virginia dont seem to wear the same Dress as our Sundays to the Northward—Generally here by five o-clock on Saturday every Face (especially the Negroes) looks festive and cheerful—All the lower class of People, and the Servants, and the Slaves, consider it as a Day of amusement, and spend it in such Diversions as they severally choose.”
For the most part, colonial Virginia churches were simple in exterior appearance. Except for those in major towns, few churches had bell towers or steeples. The typical church designs found in Virginia at the time included the rectangular, the cruciform (in the shape of a Greek cross), and the deep, an extended version of the rectangular design.
The interior of 18th century Virginia churches, the sanctuary, called attention to the social structure of the period. The pulpit, from where the minister addressed the congregation, was found in the center of the church (usually in the southeast corner of the crossing). The minister preaching from the pulpit was the central focus. On the far side of the pulpit stood the altar, and above it, the Ten Commandments and Apostle’s Creed, often written on tablets. Seating in 18th century churches was in the form of box pews. The high backs of the pews prevented any distraction among churchgoers. The pews in which the gentry sat were closer to the pulpit and larger than the others. Men and women sat separately, with the exception of privileged gentry families who owned their own pews and sat together. Commoners, free blacks, and slaves sat in the rear of the church, sometimes on benches pushed to the back or in upstairs galleries. An excellent example of a colonial Virginia church interior is Christ Church, on Virginia’s Northern Neck. Completed in 1735, Christ Church is the most completely preserved colonial church in Virginia. It has retained much of its original Georgian architecture and embellishment, including the only remaining 18th century high-backed box pews in Virginia.
After nearly an hour of socializing, a bell would be rung and congregants would begin to enter the church. Lower class whites, like our “farm family”, blacks, and other women and children entered the church first. The last to enter were upper class gentleman, who Fithian notes were often in the process of “giving and receiving letters of business, reading Advertisements, consulting about the price of Tobacco, Grain &c., and settling the lineage, Age, or quality of favourite Horses.” On entering the church, these men gave the impression of importance and high standing in the congregation. Fithian writes:
“The Gentlemen go to Church to be sure, but they make that itself a matter of convenience, and account the Church a useful weekly resort to do business… It is not the custom for Gentlemen to go into Church til Service is beginning, when they enter in a Body, in the same manner as they come out; I have known the Clerk to come out and call them into prayers.”
A typical Anglican worship was divided into four parts, the Morning Prayer (Matins), the Litany, the Ante Communion, and the Sermon, which made up the Anglican “Divine Service.” During the Morning Prayer, the church clerk read prayers from the Book of Common Prayer. Hymns and psalms were also periodically sung between prayers; musical accompaniment to such singing was uncommon, although some wealthy, urban congregations could boast an organ. For the duration of the Litany, prayers and petitions of the congregation were offered.
Communion was celebrated on average four times a year, during what was known as the Ante Communion. Because the sacrament was performed very little, most of the year saw the Ante Communion as preparation for the sermon that was given near the end of the service. By about 1770 the fashion was to have short sermons, and most lasted about twenty minutes and covered topics from Biblical excerpts and political subjects to “metaphysicks.” Following the benediction and final rites, the congregation was dismissed and many spent additional time mingling outside, ironically often doubling the time spent socializing than in worship. As Fithian notes
Gentry and other upper class families often hosted dinners following worship on Sundays. Taking place usually near 2 o’clock in the afternoon, dinner was the largest meal of the day. With extensive household staffs, local Fairfax County aristocracy and gentry such as the Fairfaxes, Washingtons, Masons, and Carlyles invited family, friends, and even the minister to their homes following the conclusion of the service.
“After the service is over three quarters of an hour is spent in strolling round the Church among a Crowd, in which time you will be invited by several different Gentlemen home with them to dinner…I observe it a general Custom on Sundays here with Gentlemen to invite one another home to dine, after Church.”
Philip Vickers Fithian, 1773
For families further down the social ladder, the time after church was spent in much the same manner as the gentry. Of course they did not entertain to the extent that did the upper class, but they emulated it to the best of their ability. On the small farms dotting the landscape of Fairfax county, farming communities often came together to celebrate the Sabbath and take a break from the exhausting tasks that made up farm living. Although generally a day of rest, during crucial periods of the agricultural year neighbors often came together Sundays to help with a communal chore, such as a harvest or slaughter, both economizing time and bringing the community closer together.
In addition to being a time for prayer, churchgoing was also an important social occasion. The hour before Sunday worship was the time for exchanging news and gossip, making business contracts, and meeting friends and family. In addition, it allowed all social classes to “show off” in their finest clothes.
New Jersey-born Philip Vickers Fithian, tutor to the children of Virginia gentleman Robert Carter from 1773 to 1774, wrote in his journal
“A Sunday in Virginia dont seem to wear the same Dress as our Sundays to the Northward—Generally here by five o-clock on Saturday every Face (especially the Negroes) looks festive and cheerful—All the lower class of People, and the Servants, and the Slaves, consider it as a Day of amusement, and spend it in such Diversions as they severally choose.”
For the most part, colonial Virginia churches were simple in exterior appearance. Except for those in major towns, few churches had bell towers or steeples. The typical church designs found in Virginia at the time included the rectangular, the cruciform (in the shape of a Greek cross), and the deep, an extended version of the rectangular design.
The interior of 18th century Virginia churches, the sanctuary, called attention to the social structure of the period. The pulpit, from where the minister addressed the congregation, was found in the center of the church (usually in the southeast corner of the crossing). The minister preaching from the pulpit was the central focus. On the far side of the pulpit stood the altar, and above it, the Ten Commandments and Apostle’s Creed, often written on tablets. Seating in 18th century churches was in the form of box pews. The high backs of the pews prevented any distraction among churchgoers. The pews in which the gentry sat were closer to the pulpit and larger than the others. Men and women sat separately, with the exception of privileged gentry families who owned their own pews and sat together. Commoners, free blacks, and slaves sat in the rear of the church, sometimes on benches pushed to the back or in upstairs galleries. An excellent example of a colonial Virginia church interior is Christ Church, on Virginia’s Northern Neck. Completed in 1735, Christ Church is the most completely preserved colonial church in Virginia. It has retained much of its original Georgian architecture and embellishment, including the only remaining 18th century high-backed box pews in Virginia.
After nearly an hour of socializing, a bell would be rung and congregants would begin to enter the church. Lower class whites, like our “farm family”, blacks, and other women and children entered the church first. The last to enter were upper class gentleman, who Fithian notes were often in the process of “giving and receiving letters of business, reading Advertisements, consulting about the price of Tobacco, Grain &c., and settling the lineage, Age, or quality of favourite Horses.” On entering the church, these men gave the impression of importance and high standing in the congregation. Fithian writes:
“The Gentlemen go to Church to be sure, but they make that itself a matter of convenience, and account the Church a useful weekly resort to do business… It is not the custom for Gentlemen to go into Church til Service is beginning, when they enter in a Body, in the same manner as they come out; I have known the Clerk to come out and call them into prayers.”
A typical Anglican worship was divided into four parts, the Morning Prayer (Matins), the Litany, the Ante Communion, and the Sermon, which made up the Anglican “Divine Service.” During the Morning Prayer, the church clerk read prayers from the Book of Common Prayer. Hymns and psalms were also periodically sung between prayers; musical accompaniment to such singing was uncommon, although some wealthy, urban congregations could boast an organ. For the duration of the Litany, prayers and petitions of the congregation were offered.
Communion was celebrated on average four times a year, during what was known as the Ante Communion. Because the sacrament was performed very little, most of the year saw the Ante Communion as preparation for the sermon that was given near the end of the service. By about 1770 the fashion was to have short sermons, and most lasted about twenty minutes and covered topics from Biblical excerpts and political subjects to “metaphysicks.” Following the benediction and final rites, the congregation was dismissed and many spent additional time mingling outside, ironically often doubling the time spent socializing than in worship. As Fithian notes
Gentry and other upper class families often hosted dinners following worship on Sundays. Taking place usually near 2 o’clock in the afternoon, dinner was the largest meal of the day. With extensive household staffs, local Fairfax County aristocracy and gentry such as the Fairfaxes, Washingtons, Masons, and Carlyles invited family, friends, and even the minister to their homes following the conclusion of the service.
“After the service is over three quarters of an hour is spent in strolling round the Church among a Crowd, in which time you will be invited by several different Gentlemen home with them to dinner…I observe it a general Custom on Sundays here with Gentlemen to invite one another home to dine, after Church.”
Philip Vickers Fithian, 1773
For families further down the social ladder, the time after church was spent in much the same manner as the gentry. Of course they did not entertain to the extent that did the upper class, but they emulated it to the best of their ability. On the small farms dotting the landscape of Fairfax county, farming communities often came together to celebrate the Sabbath and take a break from the exhausting tasks that made up farm living. Although generally a day of rest, during crucial periods of the agricultural year neighbors often came together Sundays to help with a communal chore, such as a harvest or slaughter, both economizing time and bringing the community closer together.
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