About

On June 26, 1842, this church building was dedicated. In 1844 the Methodist Church divided. The first general conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South was held in this church in May of 1846. During the War Between the States, the church building was used as a hospital and was subjected to shelling during the siege of Petersburg. Existing prior to 1773, the organization known as Washington Street United Methodist Church of Petersburg is one of the oldest in the United States, begun here by Gressett Davis and Robert Williams, by invitation of Davis and Nathaniael Young. Follow the path of Methodism in this area. A museum is located on site. The church was designated in June 1980 as a Historic Landmark by the Virginia Landmark Commission, and was included in the National Landmark Records in Washington, D.C. in 1981.