St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception

Accession number: 2005.6.111

St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception was the first Roman Catholic church established in Virginia. A small chapel built in 1794 by refugees from the French Revolution gave way later to a neoclassical structure called St. Patrick's. After it burned in 1856, perhaps because it held integrated services, the present structure was erected in 1858. Its stained glass windows are renowned.

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