A Brief History of St. Mary's Episcopal Church
Dover Parish, Goochland County in the Diocese of Virginia
Consecrated in 1878 as a mission of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, St. Mary’s Church originally served the farmers of eastern Goochland and western Henrico Counties. Later the congregation included the families of the coal mining community known as Gayton, which lay along present-day Lauderdale Road. The congregation’s beginnings were associated with the life of Mary Mitchell Allen. Born at Tuckahoe Plantation on Christmas Eve, 1864, Mary died on August 14, 1865. Her parents, Richard and Virginia Allen, raised sufficient funds to build the small “carpenter’s Gothic”-style church on River Road. Their daughter’s name, which prompted the selection of St. Mary as the patron saint of the congregation, was then forever incorporated within the life of our community of faith. Appropriately, we call the historic church “Little St. Mary’s.”
The new construction, which encompassed a larger worship space, parish hall, and educational wing, was completed and consecrated in 1992. Joined to the original buildings by covered brick walkways, the facilities of “New St. Mary’s” more than triple those connected with the older church. The sanctuary features clear Gothic-arch windows, oak pews and flooring, and heart-pine chancel furnishings. A 30-rank Schantz pipe organ graces the balcony on the north end of the building.
Our Cemetery contains dozens of numbered, concrete “stones” which date back to the beginning of the parish. Each number is correlated with a person’s name in the burial register. The numbered markers depict an historical setting of frugality for the farmers and miners of this area. Today’s churchyard has undergone a two-fold expansion and concurrent landscaping to accommodate the growth of the parish.
The congregation now numbers approximately 1600 members. There are more than 650 children served here, and that has prompted the parish to launch St. Mary’s Episcopal School in the fall of 2000. Additions to the parish architecture were made in 2002 and include a bell tower, carillon of four bronze bells, a music suite, an enlarged and refurbished parish hall and kitchen, nursery space and classrooms for preschoolers, and a youth and education building. All enhancements to the buildings continue the simple, country Gothic theme that has served so well as our physical “logo” since 1878.
