Catharpin Mount Calvary Baptist Church and Cemetery

Historic site Viewable from the road Things to do and see Mount Calvary Baptist Church and the burial place of Jane Serepta “Jennie” Dean Location 4949 Sudley Road, Catharpin, VA 20143 Map On The Web www.gmccc.org

Mount Calvary Baptist Church

Burial site of Jane Serepta “Jennie” Dean.

Members of Mount Calvary long remembered founder Jennie Dean riding out in her light sulky pulled by her bay horse Chaney. Although she worked during the week in Washington, DC, the young woman returned to western Prince William on the weekends to organize and teach in Sunday schools. Through her participation in Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in DC she embraced the independent church movement among African Americans and became an evangelist. In 1880, with local black citizens, she founded Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Catharpin. Others followed, including Ebenezer Baptist Church in 1883, Prosperity Baptist Church in 1899 (Loudoun County), Dean Divers Church in 1909, Pilgrim’s Rest in 1908 (Fauquier). The churches supported education and personal and community development.

At Mount Calvary in 1880, Reverend D.G. Henderson served as the first pastor, and led the congregation in purchasing a half-acre of land, building a church, and expanding to 123 members before he moved to another church in 1903. In the ensuing years under seventeen pastors, the church continued its growth. A new sanctuary replaced the first structure, and the congregation now has a second church, a large modern one in Manassas, known as Greater Mount Calvary Christian Church. Jennie Dean also founded Prosperity Baptist Church in nearby Loudoun County, Dean Divers Baptist Church in Manassas, and the Manassas Industrial School. Jennie Dean is buried in the adjacent Mount Calvary Cemetery beneath a stone memorial.

Resources

• Greater Mount Calvary Christian Church. “The History.” www.gmccc.org/History.htm

Interest-African American, Prince William County, >African-American, >AF Prince William