Must-See RVA! — Asbury Chapel

AKA, Union Station Methodist Church, Mt. Sinai Baptist Church
812 North Twenty-Fifth Street
Built, probably 1843

A hidden marvel on Union Hill.

[ORN]

In the early nineteenth century both Doing’s Hill and the higher one north of it were referred to as Adams’ Hill. The first use of the term Union Hill that we have found occurs in 1817. Like the rest of the heights east of Shockoe Valley, the land belonged to the first Richard Adams. In 1805 John Adams and Benjamin Mosby laid off the western end of the present Union Hill in lots, but only along Venable Street was this developed for building.

November 2016

As late as 1845 most of this section still belonged to various Adams heirs. That some building had already been done here is apparent from the founding in 1843 of a Methodist church, then called Union Hill Chapel, and later Asbury Chapel. Probably most of the small congregation, however, lived on Venable. The first building was a made-over carriage-house on Twenty-fifth between N and O Streets.

November 2016

Recalling the many fine brick churches that have vanished, one can only marvel that this modest frame building, which has been used since shortly after the Civil War by a Negro congregation, should still be standing. [ORN]

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