01
The structure
A Greek-pediment brick church begun by the builders of the Mecklenburg courthouse, later given its vestibule, vestry room, and recessed chancel. It sits in the Boydton Historic District, listed in 2002.
Boydton · Mecklenburg County · since 1842
A brick church, still holding the story of Southside.
Cultural Heritage Remembrance acquired historic St. James Church in Boydton to keep a place — and the people tied to it — from slipping out of memory. The work is local: buildings, parish history, family lines, and the Christian life that built this town.
St. James, consecrated 5 November 1842. Jones Street at Jefferson Street, Boydton.
1842Brick church consecrated in the county seat
1761St. James Parish set off in what became Mecklenburg
1909Pipe organ dedicated on St. James Day
2002Contributing building, Boydton Historic District
Why this place
Four things worth keeping, in one building.
The mission is to preserve Southside Virginia’s cultural heritage: its historical structures, its history, its genealogical heritage, and its Christian heritage. St. James is the first room in that work.
02
The record
Parish lines run from St. Andrews and Cumberland through the 1761 creation of St. James Parish. Sterling Hutcheson’s 1965 notes remain the spine of that record.
03
The names
The cemetery plan is unchanged. A marked plot still opens the history already on this server.
Inside
Built for a Sunday, still fit for a gathering.
Bishop Whittle, visiting in 1876, would not vest in front of the congregation. The vestry room, central doors, and vestibule date from that insistence. On St. James Day, 25 July 1909, the congregation dedicated a pipe organ. The organ in the church now was installed later.
The longer aim is a small network of restored Southside sites, worked with other local preservation groups.
Gatherings
The doors open for the county, not only for the record.
Services and gatherings are posted at the link below.
Weddings
The church is available for a wedding.
St. James can be reserved for a marriage. The building seats a small congregation.
Write or call Harold Gielow to ask about a date.
Churchyard
The map, and the histories it already opens.
The cemetery plan and its plot links are the files already on the server. Open the map to click a plot, or choose a name here. Both go to the same pages.
- Alexander Spotswood Boyd
- Colonel William Baskerville
- Colonel John Thomas Goode
- Sterling Hutcheson
- Marietta Ambler
- John Shaw Feild III
- Willoughby Shelton Hundley Jr.
- Caroline Matilda Nelson Lewis
- Charles James Faulkner Jr.
- Herbert F. Hutcheson Sr.
- Edward Branch Goode Sr.
- Francis Howe McGuire
- Phillip Rainey
- John W. Dugger
Parish history
From the fork of the Roanoke to Jefferson Street.
A church near the fork is recorded by 1747–48. St. James Parish was set off in 1761. The congregation was at Cabin Point by 1818, moved near Wheatland in 1835, and consecrated this brick church in Boydton on 5 November 1842, with Francis H. McGuire as rector. The full notes, with deed-book citations, are Sterling Hutcheson’s typescript of 25 August 1965.
Support
Keep the roof, the record, and the welcome.
Gifts go to Cultural Heritage Remembrance in Southside and the care of St. James. The PayPal link is unchanged.
Visit and write
Harold Gielow
100 Jefferson Street, Boydton, Virginia
Mail: 3006 Trottinridge Road, Clarksville, Virginia 23927