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Published: November 16th 2023
Frying Pan Meeting House
Baptist church built in 1786-1791. Virginia Baptist congregations welcomed both white and black members. By 1840, Frying Pan had twenty-nine black members and thirty-three white members. These early African-American members included free and enslaved persons, though the numbers of each are unclear. The meeting house was used as a Confederate field hospital following the Civil War skirmish at Dranesville in 1862. The church remained active until 1984. 2615 Centreville Road.
National Register of Historic Places 91000016
Virginia DHR 029-0015
IMG_3682I'm always on the lookout for local historical sites. While driving in western Fairfax County, I spotted one I had not visited previously, the Frying Pan Meeting House. The former Baptist church dates to 1791.
People have asked me about the term "meeting house." In colonial Virginia, the Church of England was the established church. Only it could have "churches". Eventually, Dissenters, as they were known in those days, were permitted to hold worship services, but not in churches. So, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers met for their worship in "meeting houses." The term remained popular among many congregations after American Independence.
Frying Pan Meeting House was built by a Baptist congregation between 1786 and 1791. Elder Richard Major organized a Baptist congregation at nearby Bull Run in 1775. They petitioned prominent Virginia landowner Robert Carter III, who had converted to Baptism, to build a meeting house on his property in Fairfax County. The existing structure is largely original. It is a simple white clapboard structure with a very plain interior. It was named for the nearby Frying Pan Run (i.e., Creek), used for baptisms and was the only church in this part of Fairfax County until after the Civil
Frying Pan Meeting House Historical Marker
Frying Pan Meeting House Virginia Historical MarkerI.
MG_3680 War. Virginia Baptist congregations welcomed both white and black members. By 1840, Frying Pan had twenty-nine black members and thirty-three white members. These early African-American members included free and enslaved persons, though the numbers of each are unclear. The meeting house was used as a Confederate field hospital following the Civil War skirmish at Dranesville in 1862. In 1984, the last surviving trustee of the Frying Pan Meeting House deeded the property to the Fairfax County Park Authority "to preserve the building and grounds for posterity."
The meeting house cemetery lies to the east of the structure. Thirty-four individual burials have been marked or identified, though there are doubtless many more individuals buried here. Civil War casualties are thought to be buried here, too, although their graves are unmarked.
The suburban area surrounding the church today was quite rural until the twentieth century, and the simple church and peaceful setting remind one of that era in Fairfax County. It now forms a part of Frying Pan Farm Park, preserving a portion of the agrarian community of Floris.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Exploring historical sites
I always think I know something about history until I travel and discover so many more things. Travel increases the knowledge.