Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Summer 2014 Issue | Page 27

In Brief
Cople Parish Celebrates 350th Anniversary
with Presiding Bishop
On May 25, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop,
and the Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, bishop of Virginia, joined
members of Cople Parish, Hague, in a celebration of their 350th
anniversary at Yeocomico Church.

Westmoreland County established Cople Parish on May 25, 1664.
In the colonial era, Yeocomico and Nomini Churches were part of
the established Church of England, and the Virginia colony did not
recognize any other denominations. The two churches of Cople Parish
served as the spiritual, cultural and social center for the residents of
lower Westmoreland County. Cople’s earliest vestry members included
George Eskridge, guardian of Mary Ball before her marriage and the
birth of her son, George Washington. Later vestry members included
Stratford Hall builder Thomas Lee, Declaration of Independence signer
Richard Henry Lee, and first emancipator Robert Carter III. A significant
supporter of revolt was Cople’s rector, the Rev. Thomas Smith.

The frame chapel of today’s Yeocomico site was built in 1655. It
was replaced on the same footprint by the brick structure that has
become the oldest church in the Northern Neck. The current Nomini
Church was built in the 1850s near the site of its 1704 predecessor.
Cople’s third, St. James at Tidwells, was built as an ecumenical church
in the 1890s and became part of the parish in 1924. Worship services
continue to be held at all three churches.

Today’s Cople Parish is actively involved in a variety of civic and

Vauter’s Church Awarded
Grant
This year, the Jessie