| Back to e-WV
The West Virginia Encyclopedia
| Back to e-WV
The West Virginia Encyclopedia
Called Norborne Church or Berkeley Church during its occupancy, St. George’s Chapel in Jefferson County was part of the Norborne Parish. Constructed about 1771, of local limestone, the chapel was two stories high and had two tiers of windows on all sides. The pulpit was probably a gift of James Nourse of nearby Piedmont, who had it built and carved in London. Beginning with the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in America after Independence, revenues to support the chapel declined, and it probably suffered both neglect and vandalism. In 1803, the Anglican Church had lost all endowments and property, with most real estate being turned over to the Overseers of the Poor. The chapel was abandoned about this time, when a new church was built in Charles Town. The ruins, located approximately one mile west of Charles Town on State Route 51, have been the subject of numerous myths and legends and have been noted frequently in local literature. A sketch of the structure by David Hunter Strother was published in his ‘‘Personal Recollections of the War by a Virginian,’’ in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, in July 1866.
Written by William D. Theriault
Old Norborne Parish. Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society, 1976 & 1979.