Pilgrim’s Rest

Beulah Baptist Church and Pilgrim’s Rest School. (Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County)

Historic site Viewable from the road Properties are privately owned Location Beulah Baptist Church, 6049 Pilgrim’s Rest Road, Broad Run, VA Contact information Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County (540) 253-7488

The settlers of this post-emancipation community called it Pilgrim’s Rest from a passage from the Bible: “All these died according to faith, not having received the promises but beholding them afar off and saluting them and confessing that they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. For they that say these things do signify that they seek a country... But now they desire a better, that is to say, a heavenly country.” (Hebrews 11:13-16)  Residents wanted a spiritual as well as an earthly place of rest. Consequently, Richard Horner, Arthur Butler Sr., William H. Lewis and Reuben Clark, with the help of evangelist Jennie Dean, founded Beulah Baptist Church. Other members included Thomas Gaskins, William Stewart, John Fountain, Bristoe Cheeks, Patsy Barry, Lucelia Wells, and Arthur Butler. They purchased land from Anderson and Susan Smith on July 14, 1899 and built a sanctuary that a fire destroyed in the mid-1960s, but the congregation rebuilt and still worships there today. Pilgrim’s Rest School still stands.

Resources

• Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County.
• Eugene Scheel, The Guide to Fauquier: A Survey of The Architecture and History of a Virginia County. Fauquier County Bicentennial Commission. (Warrenton, Va.: Warrenton Printing and Publishing, 1976).

Pilgrims Rest