Woodlawn Methodist Church (Historical Marker)

Here follows the inscription written on this roadside historical marker:

Woodlawn Methodist Church
African Americans in Woodlawn, four miles southwest of here, established Woodlawn Methodist Episcopal Church ca. 1866. The Woodlawn area, formerly part of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate, was home to African Americans who had been free landowners before the Civil War, people recently emancipated from slavery, and northern Quakers who had arrived In the 1840s. The Methodist church, built on land purchased from Quakers, housed a Freedmen's Bureau school that became a public school by 1871. The congregation established a cemetery and in 1888 built a new sanctuary. When Fort Belvoir expanded during World War II, the church moved here to the historically black community of Gum Springs.

Erected 2017 by Virginia Department of Historic Resources. (Marker Number E-146.)

In January 2014, St. John Baptist Church moved to this building that formerly housed Woodlawn Methodist Church.


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Here follows an excerpt from the Fairfax County African American History Inventory created by the George Mason University Center for Mason Legacies:

In 1866, the first Woodlawn United Methodist church was built on a plot of land adjacent to where the current cemetery exists. The land was donated by a Quaker neighbor, Joseph Cox in response to a request from William Holland. The church was built from local lumber and from additional materials from stables at Fort Myers in Arlington. In 1888 the original church was torn down and a new one constructed on the opposite side of the road. That church remained until the Army purchased the land and the congregation relocated to Gum Springs.

The first 2 structures were located on what is now Fort Belvoir at the intersection of Woodlawn, Gorgas and Meeres Road. In 1941, the land was condemned by the Federal Government for the expansion of the Fort and many members of the Community moved to Gum Springs. They constructed a new church at 7730 Fordson Road Alexandria, VA 22306. The building is still in use, but a new larger facility has been built at 7010 Harrison Ln, Alexandria, VA 22306.