About Us

         

 The Chancel and Altar with Ascension Window

 

Historic St. Thomas Church was founded in 1740 as a colonial parish of the Church of England.  The original brick church was built on land belonging to Colonel James Taylor II, great-grandfather of Presidents James Madison Taylor and Zachary Taylor.  The present church was built in 1830 in a Jeffersonian style.  During the Winter Campaign of 1862, General Robert E. Lee worshiped at St. Thomas where a plaque commemorates his pew.  The church is blessed to possess a handsome pre-Revolutionary silver chalice and paten commissioned in England by James Madison's grandmother and other women of the church, and is still used for major festival occasions.

   

The Silver Paten &  Chalice