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
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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. |
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