Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 09/20/1977
NRHP Listing Date 01/31/1978
DHR's Virginia Board of Historic Resources easement
NRHP Reference Number 78003182
The simple Greek Revival Bedford Historic Meeting House, built in 1838 as the first Methodist church in Liberty (now the town of Bedford), survives as the community’s oldest religious edifice. The Methodists outgrew the little church by 1886 and sold it to the Episcopal Diocese as a house of worship for former slaves. It was reconsecrated as St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, and its parishioners soon opened a day school which educated the town’s black children until a black public school was established. The church was vacated when Bedford’s African American and white Episcopal congregations merged in 1968. The building was acquired in 1969 by the Bedford Historical Society and subsequently restored to serve as its headquarters. With its fine brickwork, pedimented roof, and pilastered belfry, the Bedford Historic Meeting House is architecturally related to a number of antebellum churches scattered from Bedford to southwest Virginia.
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
Updated: December 15, 2022
