Grace Church

Grace Church - Yorktown, Virginia

Situated in the picturesque village of Historic Yorktown, Grace Church is an Episcopal Church built in 1697 on a knoll overlooking the York River.

Before the Revolutionary War, Yorktown was the main port for the Virginia Colony. It was home to many prominent families including the Thomas Nelson family, who lived nearby and were members of the congregation.

The original building survived the war, but burned in the Yorktown fire of 1814 leaving only the marl walls standing. The church was rebuilt in 1848, but suffered severe damages during the Civil War. A 1920's renovation created the building standing today.

Grace Church is one of the few, if not only, surviving colonial structures built of marl. Marl is a clay-like material made with oyster shell. It is soft when first cut, but exposure to the air hardens it almost to stone. Unfortunately the marl walls of Grace Church cannot be seen, except in patches, because of a stucco covering added in the nineteenth century.

The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

Hauntings

There are at least two separate hauntings associated with Grace Church.

The first involves a spectral Colonial-era funeral which is sometimes seen in the graveyard. There are documented sightings of this spectral funeral dating back to 1791.

The second haunting of Grace Church involves the ghost of a woman holding a dead infant inside the church.