St. George's Episcopal Church

The wooden-frame church on Princess Anne Street was finished in 1741, twenty-one years after the land was first designated as St. George's Parish. Mary Ball Washington — George Washington's mother — attended services there with her family. That building stood until 1815, when it was replaced with brick. The brick church lasted thirty-four years. The present building went up in 1849.

During the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862, cannon fire damaged the church. The Union Army used it as a command post after taking the city. The original pews remain. Side galleries were added in 1854. Stained glass windows — some by Tiffany — went in at various times between 1885 and 1943. The organ, built by Parsons Pipe Organ Builders, was installed during renovations completed in 2009.

St. George's joined the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States in 1789. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2019. The church is open for prayer and meditation daily from 9 am to 5 pm, and until 6 pm on Sundays. Sunday services are at 7:45 am, 9 am, and 11:15 am, with a Celtic service at 5:30 pm.

You come here because a building rebuilt twice and shelled once is still holding services on its original pews.