The Ebenezer Baptist Churches are two
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
churches in
Loudoun County, Virginia
Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. The county seat is Leesburg. Loudoun County ...
, the "Old Ebenezer Church," built before 1769, and the "New Ebenezer Church," built about 1855. The churches are associated with corresponding old and new cemeteries.
History
The Old Ebenezer Church was originally known as Butcher's Meeting House or Ebenezer Meeting House. The church is mentioned in the 1769 will of Samuel Butcher Sr. as already existing. However, some doubt appears to exist concerning whether the present "old church" is that mentioned in the will, as meeting minutes from 1804 to 1806 describe "finishing the meeting house." Ebenezer Church was organized in 1804 by nine members of the Goose Creek Baptist Church and eight members of the
Ketoctin Baptist Church. By the 1830s a schism had developed among Baptists concerning church practices, with "
New School Baptists" opposing "Old School" or "
Primitive Baptists
Primitive Baptists – also known as Regular Baptists, Old School Baptists, Foot Washing Baptists, or, derisively, Hard Shell Baptists – are conservative Baptists adhering to a degree of Calvinist beliefs who coalesced out of the contr ...
." By 1834 the congregation had split into these two camps, but both continued to use the church. A fire in 1855 may have spurred the construction of a new church for the New School congregation immediately adjacent to the old church.
The Ebenezer Baptist Churches were placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
on June 3, 1994.
References
Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Loudoun County, Virginia
Greek Revival church buildings in Virginia
Churches in Loudoun County, Virginia
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