40 Chester Street
Front Royal, Virginia 22630

Directions from Mount Vernon Baptist Church to site 28:

• Turn left onto E Prospect St and continue for 0.1 mile
• Turn right onto S Royal Ave and continue for 0.3 mile
• Turn right onto Peyton St
• The back side of Williams Chapel will be 0.1 mile ahead on the right
• Visitors can turn right onto Chester St to see the front of the building

Williams Chapel C.M.E. Church is Front Royal’s oldest house of worship. Built by White Presbyterians c.1844, the building served as a church, a school, and a civic center and was used as a military hospital during the Civil War. After the War, extensive repairs were made to the presbyterian church building, including the addition of a balcony for African American members who did not yet have a separate house of worship.

In 1893 the church was purchased by the Methodist Episcopal Church, an African American congregation that had been worshipping at a building on Hill Street in Freetown/Southtown, and was renamed Williams Chapel in honor of Bishop Williams. The congregation is still active today.

Site 27

Site 29