Bill Text: VA HR23 | 2024 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commending the Wharton Memorial Church Complex.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-01-29 - Bill text as passed House (HR23ER) [HR23 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HR23-Enrolled.html
WHEREAS, the Wharton Memorial Church Complex, the site of a school, church, and cemetery that was the focal point for the growth of the Averett community in Mecklenburg County during the Reconstruction Era, received a Virginia Historical Marker in 2023; and
WHEREAS, the Wharton Memorial Church Complex traces its roots to the end of the Civil War, when the Reverend Jordan Mosley worked with other area faith leaders to establish Beautiful Plain Baptist Church; and
WHEREAS, in 1880, the Reverend George Douglas Wharton relocated to the area after graduating from what is now Hampton University and began pastoring the small congregation, which met in a two-room log building at the time; and
WHEREAS, over the next 50 years, Reverend Wharton also founded a school, operated a country store, and established a land company to allow freed slaves to purchase property, helping Averett to grow into a largely self-sufficient Black community; and
WHEREAS, the congregation of Beautiful Plain Baptist Church constructed new sanctuaries in 1882 and 1897, and the Averett School, which had been operating in the original two-room log structure, opened in its own new building in 1910; and
WHEREAS, Beautiful Plain Baptist Church was renamed as Wharton Memorial Baptist Church in 1922, and after the building was destroyed by a fire in 1940, the current Gothic Revival-style church was erected on the same site; and
WHEREAS, the Averett School served as the local primary school until 1940; the building was subsequently expanded in 1959 and became a community meeting place and the home of the Averett Union Masonic Lodge; and
WHEREAS, the Wharton Memorial Church Complex also includes the Wharton Cemetery, which was formally organized in 1894 and contains at least 240 marked graves and may hold several unmarked graves; and
WHEREAS, Janet Robinson, whose late uncle lived most of his life on a farm purchased through Reverend Wharton's land company, led efforts to preserve and interpret the Wharton Memorial Church Complex, which was included on the Virginia Landmarks Register in 2020 and the National Register of Historic Places in 2021; and
WHEREAS, the Virginia Historical Marker for the Wharton Memorial Church Complex was placed in between Wharton Memorial Baptist Church and Wharton Cemetery at the intersection of White House Road and Virginia State Route 49 in Nelson and unveiled at a special ceremony in October 2023; and
WHEREAS, the unveiling ceremony featured the presence of direct descendants of Wharton Memorial Baptist Church founders, descendants of former congregants and local residents, and living former students of the Averett School; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Wharton Memorial Church Complex, which received a Virginia Historical Marker in 2023, hereby be commended for its important contributions to local history; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the Wharton Memorial Church Complex as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for the site's historical significance in the region.
