The building which is now the parish house of Grace Church at Bremo in Fluvanna County, Virginia, was built for the slaves of John Hartwell Cocke and was located on the Bremo plantation.

In 1835, General Cocke determined “to build an edifice for the sole purpose of worship.” The building was completed in the fall of that year, and the General’s young missionary friend, Cortland Van Rensselaer, came to dedicate the little church. “Twenty-two members of the Cocke family and friends, plus nearly all of the plantation slaves, were present for the ceremony.” Some eight months later, after Rensselaer had left Virginia, he wrote back to inquire after “the dear little church – the most interesting edifice in the land.” Van Rensselaer had come to Bremo two years earlier (in 1833) at the request of General Cocke to do missionary work among the slaves. After some months, the young New Yorker decided to move on to perform a similar labor in Halifax County. When he communicated his decision to the family at Bremo, he wrote that “as there is already a light burning among the banks of the James, I must try – hard as may be the task, to be instrumental in kindling up another on the Roanoke.”

Another interesting quotation from quite a different source, is to be found in a letter belonging to General Cocke’s daughters from one Peyton Skipwith, the beloved ex-slave who had been given his freedom to live in Liberia. He wrote in 1838, “I was happy to hear that master has built a church for the cullard people. I know that they enjoy themselves better than they would here.”

In the years that followed, great difficulties were encountered in getting suitable men to conduct Christian work among the slaves. But, services were held as regularly as possible in this chapel until the Civil War.

In the spring of 1881, Cary. C. Cocke, William R.C. Cocke, and Charles E. Cosby, as Trustees, purchased two acres of land near the present site of Grace Church. This land was bought from Sallie F. Cabel for twenty dollars. The deed was dated May 6, 1881, and was recorded on July 25, 1882. At some time between July 25, 1882 and February 14, 1884, the Cocke family offered the old slave chapel to the community of Bremo Bluff, and it was moved from the Chapel Field (as it is still known) of Lower Bremo to the site of the present brick church. The chapel was consecrated as Grace Church by the Rt. Rev. Alfred McG. Randolph, Bishop Coadjutor of Virginia, on February 14, 1884. The first Rector of the church was the Rev. Dr. Morrison. Services were held in this building until 1924. In that year, this “board and batten” frame church was moved to its present site and a new brick church was built to replace it.

But, the chapel was to undergo yet another trial! In 1925, a large tree fell across the Building, crushing it to the ground. So, an undaunted congregation had to rebuild it once again.

In the spring of 1966, the congregation of Grace Church decided to begin further restoration of the historic little building. An architect, F.D. Nichols, Chairman of the Division of Architecture of the University of Virginia, was engaged to design a new porch. This porch has now been built, and it is hoped that the entire structure may be fittingly restored for use as the Parish House of Grace Church.

Bremo Bluff, Virginia, November 1968

Refurbished and rededicated May 4, 2008.