Welcome to Historic St. John’s Church
As tensions grew between the colonies and Great Britain in the 1770s, the Virginia House of Burgesses held a series of meetings to organize its protests against the mother country. In March of 1775, the Second Virginia Convention was held here at what was then called Henrico Parish Church. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee and other prominent Virginians were delegates to the convention. Here, Patrick Henry embodied the spirit of the Revolution on March 23, 1775, with his words,
“Give me liberty…or give me death!”
St. John’s Church is one of America’s most important historic sites, where – swayed by Henry’s powerful argument – the Virginia delegates made a decision that changed the course of history, lighting the spark of the War for Independence.
Today St. John’s is an active episcopal church and welcomes everyone to their service, regardless of religious background. Henrico Parish, to which St. John’s belongs, began in 1611 a few miles down river as the Jamestown settlers explored further inland. The current building is the fourth iteration of the Henrio Parish Church and people have been worshipping here since it was built 1741. Henrico Parish Church was Anglican, as was the colony of Virginia before the American Revolution. The first known reference to St. John’s is in 1829.
The content of this app was created by the St. John’s Church Foundation, the non-profit partner of St. John’s Episcopal Church. Our mission is to spark a global appreciation for understanding the role that Patrick Henry’s “Liberty or Death” speech had in setting America on its path to liberty for all, and to ignite the public’s commitment for preserving the historic site where it happened.
All gifts are tax-deductible. We receive no federal, state, city, or church funds for our work. We do not fund church activities.