Sussex County, VA

Notes:
All of Sussex County was known as Albemarle Parish during colonial times, and all of its citizens were required to support the Anglican, or Established, Church with their taxes and their attendance. The church wardens, rather than the government, took responsibility for the care of the poor. The communion silver used at St. Andrew's Church near Yale still survives and represents one of the most complete sets of colonial church silver in America. Also, the register of births and deaths kept by the Rev. William Willie has also survived as a great genealogical reference to the colonial residents of the county. Growing dissatisfaction with the Established Church during colonial times led to the establishment in Sussex of some of the earliest Baptist and Methodist churches in Virginia. Antioch near Yale, originally known as Raccoon Swamp Meeting House, is regarded as the oldest Baptist church in eastern Virginia, being established in 1772. Sappony Church near Stony Creek, followed, being established in 1773. Its first pastor was the Reverend James Bell, who had relinquished his post as a member of the Virginia House Of Burgesses to devote himself to a new ministry. Bell Road in Sussex, which runs by the site of his home, is named for him. At Jones' Chapel, the site of which is located on Comans Well Road near Interstate Route 95, thousands were converted by itinerant Methodist preachers, including Bishop Francis Asbury. Lane's Chapel, which was located near Airfield Mill Pond near Wakefield, is the third earliest documented Methodist church in Virginia. At Ellis Chapel, which was located near Waverly on Walnut Hill Road, Virginia Methodists, at their annual conference held there in 1783, first went on record as opposing the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Latitude: 36.9183609722222, Longitude: -77.2794855555556