An austere example of country Greek Revival architecture, the Hartwood Presbyterian Church and its predecessor, known as the Hartwood Chapel or Yellow Chapel, were long important landmarks on the Marsh Road leading to the village of Falmouth in Stafford County. Yellow Chapel, and later the present church, provided the only place of worship for Stafford County’s Presbyterians until late into the 20th century. The Hartwood Presbyterian Church was built between 1857 and 1859. Used periodically by both sides during the Civil War, the church was the scene of Confederate General Wade Hampton’s November 1862 capture of 137 men of the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry, who were asleep inside the church. Caught in the crossfire of subsequent skirmishes, the church suffered considerable wartime damage. Most of the wooden elements and furnishings were burned, but the brick walls survived. In 1915, the Hartwood Presbyterian Church congregation received $800 in reparations from the U.S. Congress.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia