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Community Corner

Viewfinder: A Peak Inside the Meeting House

This week's Viewfinder takes us back in time to where blacks and whites, freemen and slaves, worshipped together at The Frying Pan Meeting House. On Sunday the Meeting House was open to the public. Re-enactors came to show off an earlier time, and Fairfax County historians were on hand to give tours. It was a day that linked our community back to one long ago.

In the 1780s, Robert “Counselor” Carter deeded two acres of Frying Pan Spring to a group of Baptists for the purpose of constructing a meeting house near Frying Pan Springs. It was built around 1791 and was the center of that community for 200 years.

According to the Friends of Frying Pan Park's website: The minutes of the Frying Pan Springs Church record that from its beginning, the congregation included whites and blacks, freemen and slaves. Any and all who shared their beliefs were welcomed. An entry in the minutes of December 1794 is the first record of a black member; thereafter, their baptisms, admonishments, dismissals and deaths were noted in the minutes as they were for the white members of the congregation.

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The Fairfax County Park Athority has been restoring the building and grounds for the last 3 years. The Meeting House showcases the rich history of Fairfax County.

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