History
As a result of the first recommendation from the Heritage Visioning Group formed before the 400th Anniversary, four members with compatible interests met to discuss the possibility of forming what came to be known as the Heritage Working Group for St. John’s Church. Its aim was to continue the work begun by Beverly Gundry before the country’s Bicentennial. After an initial meeting at the end of 2010, the group decided to meet regularly on Wednesday mornings, which it began in January 2011 and has continued to do so, with some exceptions, until the present time. St. John’s Vestry recognized the Heritage Working Group as a Committee at its September 2013 meeting.
Mission Statement
The Heritage Committee of St. John’s Church strives through stewardship to preserve the historic integrity of its colonial church, built in 1728, and its oldest English-speaking parish in the Americas, founded in 1610.
Completed Activities
Projects to date include the restoration of the 1860 needlepoint sampler, financed by the vestry; refurbishing the Virginia Laydon Memorial, financed by the Cemetery Fund; photographing and cataloguing the church’s silver, kneelers, cushions, flags, fixtures, decorations and plaques; cleaning and recording brass markers on church pews.
Publications include compiling, designing and printing the St. John’s bookmark; revising the church’s historical flyer; providing items of historical interest for the E-pistle and service leaflet.
Hospitality services include providing tours and talks, as requested, to groups and individuals; hosting open houses for special events, as Garden Week and Bay Days; aiding historical groups in their special observances, as with the Sons of the War of 1812, in June, when we also placed flags on the known graves of 1812 veterans.
On-going Activities
The Heritage Committee is currently collecting, compiling and storing vestry minutes; helping to stock historical material in the church; responding to mail, e-mail, or telephone requests for historical information from outsiders. The group is about to begin the review and reorganization of the material in the Gundry Archives Room.
The Heritage Committee works for the glory of God by seeking to preserve for the future those blessings He has generously bestowed upon us at St. John’s Church.
Originally published in St. John’s Epistle, February 2014 (Annual Reports).