Elk Run Church Area History

Early History

The Mannahoac Indians lived in several small communities in Virginia’s northern piedmont area, above the falls of the Rappahannock River as far upriver as the Rapidan River.  They were allies of the Monacan's to the south, and like the Monacan they spoke a Siouan language.  The Mannahoac initially came into contact with Captain John Smith when he explored the Rappahannock River in 1608.  Using the information they gave him, Smith mapped three Mannahoac towns on the map of Virginia he published in 1612.

Like most Virginia native peoples at the time of English contact, the Mannahoac farmed, hunted, fished, and supplemented their diet with fruits and nuts they gathered. Little information about them remains, as they successfully avoided European contact for decades.

Accounts from early European visitors indicate that the Mannahoac were no longer living in this area by the late 1650s.  It is likely that they moved due to increasing attacks from Iroquoian speaking tribes from the north, and some of them may have joined the Monacan to the south.  They may also have suffered from exposure to English borne diseases. [1]

Elk Run Village

The first English settlement of the Elk Run area took place in the late 1600s, with settlement increasing after 1710. Several hundred people lived in the Elk Run vicinity when Hamilton Parish was established in 1730.  A church building existed by 1744 when Prince William Minute Books made note of road repairs being done in front of the Elk Run Chapel. This wooden church structure served Anglican communicants in Elk Run and provided pastoral care as well as secular governmental administration for this frontier community. In colonial days, everyone was required to attend Anglican services once a month by colonial Virginia law, even if they attended other worship services.  Along with this church, the bustling village in the 1750s boasted a tavern, a blacksmith shop, an ordinary, and was a stopover point for travelers going north or west in the constant expansion into what later became Fauquier County in 1759. A brick cruciform church replaced the earlier chapel in the 1750s and would have been an impressive structure at that time in this area that is now southern Fauquier County.

As such, Elk Run Church was an important location on the colonial frontier and was included on The Fry-Jefferson Map, first published in 1753 and again in 1755.  Elk Run Church was located close to the Shenandoah Hunting Path, or the Falmouth Road:  “this was a cross roads of local importance at which the road from the Elk Marsh settlement to the court house, then of Prince William County, crossed the Falmouth Road and at which the latter road was joined by the “German Path’, passing south from Germantown.” [2]

This important crossroads was also the probable site of Hardin’s Ordinary or inn. [3]   Mark Hardin/Harding was first granted land in the Elk Run Valley in 1722, but he had settled in Virginia earlier, purchasing fifty acres in 1707 in Northumberland County and received two more land grants in 1716, both outside of the Elk Run Valley, but close by in the Great Marsh, or Rappahannock Marsh. The land granted to “Mark Harding of King George Co. 642 A. on Elk Run in Stafford Co.” on March 4, 1722/23 is probably the site of the ordinary that was established by his son, Martin Hardin, on Muddy Hole Branch. [4] Martin inherited 210 acres of this land in 1735 and established his ordinary in August, 1752. [5] The ordinary was described as “(a)nother early ordinary [in Fauquier]…kept by Martin Hardin on the Shenandoah Hunting Path, or Falmouth Road, one and a half miles north of Elk Run Church.”

The importance of the ordinary is conveyed in a letter written by a traveler that stayed in a Fauquier ordinary along the Shenandoah Hunting Path:  “Ordinaries are easily identified by the great number of miscellaneous papers and advertisements with which the walls, doors, and full length porches of these public houses are plastered, generally the more of such bills to be seen on a house, the better it will be found to be. In this way the traveler is afforded a many sided entertainment and can inform himself as to where the taxes are heavy, where wives have run away, horses have been stolen, or the new Doctor has settled.” [6]

Elk Run was a stopping point, for both rest and supplies, for military and militia during the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and the Revolutionary War (1775-1781). [7]

First Minister

The first permanent minister of the Elk Run Church was the Rev. James Keith, a native of Scotland. In 1729 he was ordained by the Bishop of London and received the King’s Bounty to pay his passage to Virginia. Initially he served a church on Richard Randolph’s plantation on the James River in Henrico County until 1733.  The Randolph family opposed his marriage to Mary Isham Randolph and may have forced their departure from the area.

Keith became minister of Hamilton Parish on the frontier and it was probably on the glebe (parish farm and minister’s residence) that their eight children were born.  In 1746, the parish wardens bought a new glebe on Licking Run in nearby Germantown, and Keith acquired additional land in the area.

Their eldest daughter, Mary Randolph Keith, married Thomas Marshall and lived on land acquired from the Fishbacks in Germantown.  Their eldest son, John Marshall, was soon born and he later became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  James Keith continued as the rector of Hamilton Parish until his death sometime in late 1752 or early 1753, leaving his widow with eight children between the ages of four and eighteen.  His will was proved in Prince William County, as Fauquier County had not yet been formed. [8] For a detailed biographic sketch click on Rev. James Keith.

From left to Right: Mary Randolph Keith, Thomas Marshall, and John Marshall

Sometime after 1786, with the disestablishment of the church in Virginia and introduction of complete religious freedom, the church building fell into disrepair. [9]

See an overview of Anglican Church history in early Virginia: Highlights.

The 19th Century

As the village grew and agriculture flourished, a post office was established in 1803. The church, however, fell into disuse after the Revolutionary War and the disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Virginia.

Virginia’s Episcopal Bishop William Meade wrote in his 1857 book that he first saw the church around 1811 and stated that “(i)t was a substantial brick church – cruciform, I believe.  I am not certain that the roof was on it when I first saw it in 1811.  Its walls continued for many years after this, and I saw them gradually disappear during my annual visits to the convention.” [10] Neighboring farmers and homeowners were using the church as a source of materials for their own building projects.

 Bishop Meade

Early 20th Century

By the early 1900s, Elk Run was a considerably a smaller place but still had three general stores, a tavern, and a post office. The post office closed in 1907 but a one-room school was still in use until circa 1925. [11]

Recent History

The re-discovery of Fauquier County’s First Anglican Church in Elk Run began in December 1998 when a neighbor started clearing brush on the Elk Run property. The Elk Run Church Site Preservation Committee was created to preserve the Elk Run Anglican Church site and its history for future generations. Less than a year later, members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Catlett in collaboration with St. James’ Episcopal Church in Warrenton and local citizens began to uncover the remains and related artifacts of the first brick church in Fauquier County’s which had been hidden from view for nearly 170 years.

Mr. Edward Parry Browning III, a descendant of the Reverend James Keith, generously deeded the lot to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on June 23, 1999 [12] after Mr. Browning received a preservation plan and assurances that this property would be preserved as a historic site.  Dr. Carl Lounsbury, Director of the Williamsburg Foundation’s Architectural Department and Colonial Church Historian at the Historic Road Sign Marker dedication address in October 2000 commended the Committee stating:  "we knew for a long time, that there was an Elk Run Church… but it is thanks to you and all your volunteers that have actually turned this into a reality, adding another chapter to Virginia’s Colonial History. It can only grow as time progresses.”

The all-volunteer archaeological effort, conducted from November 1999 until October 2006, uncovered the heretofore unknown stone foundation, laid down in the 1750s.  Numerous artifacts came to light, including Indian projectile points, handmade nails, ceramic fragments, early coins, brick and glass.  The archaeological effort at Site 44FQ179 was directed by archaeologist, Dr. John Eddins, who volunteered his time, and included local residents, church members, grade school, high school and college students, Boy Scout troops, and visitors from outside the county and the state. Ultimately, over 54 units were excavated and details can be found in the October 15, 2018 Archaeology Summary Report.

A total of 129 volunteers provided over 5,803 hours of service between 1999 and 2006.  Conversion of the archaeological site to a historical church park started in November 2006. The construction of a museum building over an excavated segment of the old Church foundation was completed in August 2010.

St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church held a dedication ceremony for the new Elk Run Historical Church Park museum building on November 14, 2010 during which a short church service was held within the outline of the old Church foundation for the first time in over 200 years. Officiating at the dedication was The Rt. Rev. E. (Ted) Gulick, new Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia.  About 1,631 volunteer hours of service was provided from 2006 until the end of 2010 to complete the construction of the Museum and related supporting activities.  Details on the establishment and evolution of the Elk Run Museum can be viewed in its October 15, 2018 Report.

Guided by the premise that a fine brick colonial church would possess an attached cemetery, deed research (chain of title) revealed that on October 18, 1751, two acres of land were purchased (see below Indenture i.e. Deed) allowing adequate land for a cemetery.

A deed and survey of adjacent property filed on 15 September 1942 in the Fauquier County Courthouse, cited the adjacency of “the old cemetery lot” and added documentation and credibility to the premise. Interviews with local residents were undertaken and revealed that tombstones were seen earlier in the mid-1900s.

The adjacent Elk Run Church Cemetery had changed owners over the years [13] but on November 20, 2011, William C. Patton, Jacqueline E. Patton and Christina A. Patton graciously donated the property to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church so that it could become part of the Elk Run Historic Church Park and held in perpetuity.

In 2025, Fauquier County purchased the Elk Run Church property in order to preserve the site for the future. Open houses are held twice a year with the hopes that more can be held in the future.   

1. Narrative on Mannahoac Indians was provided by Deanna E. Beacham, Virginia Council on Indians, Office of the Governor, primary source material for the narrative came from sources listed below and edited by Edward W. Haile:
   1996 England in America: The Chesapeake Bay from Jamestown to St. Mary’s City, 1607-1634. Towns from Smith and Zuniga maps on a modern base map. Dietz Press, Richmond, Virginia.
   1998 Jamestown Narratives: Eyewitness Accounts of the Virginia Colony: The First Decade 1607-1617. Round House, Champlain, Virginia.  (John Smith’s writings are included.)
2. Harry C. Groome and Harry Connelly Groome, Fauquier During the Proprietorship: A Chronicle of the Colonization and Organization of a Northern Neck County; (Fauquier Co., Virginia; Regional Publishing Company, 1927), p. 200.
3. Fairfax Harrison, Landmarks of Old Prince William, A Study of Origins in Northern Virginia in Two Volumes, (Berryville, Virginia; Chesapeake Book Company; 1964), p. 514.
4. Gertrude E. Gray, Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, Volume I: 1694-1742; (Baltimore, Maryland Reprinted for Clearfield Company by Genealogical Publishing Co., 2008), p. 72 Ruth and Sam Sparacio, Prince William County Order Book Abstracts, 1752-1753, (Antient Press), p. p. 47.
5. Ruth and Sam Sparacio, Prince William County Order Book Abstracts, 1752-1753, (Antient Press), p. 47.
6. Washington, George, 1732-1799. The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources: Volume 1 Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library.
7. Groome and Groome, p. 197.
8. Gail Raney Fleischaker, (1) “Reverend James Keith and the Elk Run Church,” https://ststephenscatlett.org/elkrun/; (2) See “Correcting and Expanding the Record of the Rev. James Keith of Hamilton Parish,” Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, Volume 55, November 2017, Number 4, pp. 257-276, e-mail: gailflei1@gmail.com; and Joan Gunderson, The Anglican Ministry in Virginia, 1723-1766: A Study in Social Class (New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1989 p.262.
9. Barbara Price, Ed Dandar & Katharine Brown, Elk Run Anglican Church, 300th Anniversary of 57th Annual Germanna Conference & Reunion, Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc., July 2014, p. 13.
10. Bishop William Meade, Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia, V0l. II: pp.216-218. Philadelphia: J.B Lippinott & Co., 1857.
11. Helen Green (as told by). History of Elk Run. [United States]: n.p, December 1994.
12. Fauquier County Courts Records. Deeds: April 5, 1940, the 100’ x 100’ plot of Elk Run Church was sold by H.A. Hansbrough to S.K. Browning, uncle of E.P. Browning of Winchester, Virginia, who later received the property from his uncle, and later deeded the property to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on June 23, 1999, for preservation of the Old Elk Run Church site. Warrenton, Virginia: n.d.
13. Deed research by Phyllis T. Scott in the land records of Fauquier Counties, April 1, 2002 confirmed the existence of an adjacent cemetery.