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{{Short description|Only slave chapel known to exist in the Commonwealth of Virginia}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Bremo Slave Chapel
| nrhp_type = nrhp
| image = Bremo_slave_chapel.jpg
| image_size = 233
| caption = Bremo Slave Chapel in January 2008
| location = [[Bremo Bluff, Virginia]]
| locmapin = Virginia
| map_width = 235
| coordinates = {{coord|37|43|1|N|78|17|51|W|display=inline,title}}
| area = 1 acre
| built = 1835
| architect = [[John Hartwell Cocke]]
| architecture = [[Gothic Revival]]
| added = March 17, 1980
| designated_other1 = Virginia Landmarks Register
| designated_other1_date = December 18, 1979<ref name="VLR list">{{cite web|title=Virginia Landmarks Register|publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources|url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register_counties_cities.htm|accessdate=2013-03-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053819/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register_counties_cities.htm#|archive-date=2013-09-21|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| designated_other1_number = 032-0030
| designated_other1_num_position = bottom
| refnum = 80004189
}}

'''Bremo Slave Chapel''', constructed in 1835 and located in [[Bremo Bluff, Virginia]], United States, is the only [[Slavery in the United States|slave]] [[chapel]] known to exist in the Commonwealth of [[Virginia]]. This [[Gothic Revival]] structure originally served as a place of worship for the slaves at the [[Bremo Historic District|Bremo Plantation]] of General [[John Hartwell Cocke]].<ref name="Virginia-Black-History-1995-p42">{{cite book|last=Loth|first=Calder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwU8zGDpLBkC&pg=PA42&dq=bremo-slave-chapel|title=Virginia Landmarks of Black history|publisher=[[University of Virginia Press]]|location=[[Charlottesville, Virginia]]; [[London]]|pages=42–43|year=1995|accessdate=December 10, 2010}}</ref> Cocke was deeply concerned with the religious and moral state of his slaves, which drove him to construct this chapel.<ref name="Agrarian-Elites-2005-p164">{{cite book|last=Lago|first=Enrico Dal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HSx0TYbayYYC&pg=PA164&dq=bremo-slave-chapel|title=Agrarian Elites: American Slaveholders and Southern Italian Landowners, 1815-1861|publisher=[[Louisiana State University Press]]|location=[[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]]|page=164|year=2005|accessdate=December 10, 2010}}</ref>

The building was moved in the late 19th century from its original location on the plantation and is now used as the [[parish hall]] for the Grace Episcopal Church in Bremo Bluff.<ref name="Americas-Religious-Architecture-1997">{{cite journal|last=Chiat|first=Marilyn Joyce Segal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0GviYfRKOsC&pg=PA237&dq=bremo-slave-chapel|title=Bremo Slave Chapel|journal=America's Religious Architecture: Sacred Places for Every Community|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=New York City|page=237|year=1997|accessdate=December 3, 2010}}</ref> Bremo Slave Chapel was listed on the [[Virginia Landmarks Register]] in December 1979 and the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in March 1980.<ref name="Virginia-Landmarks-Register-1999">{{cite journal|last=Loth|first=Calder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NJa_64aH1iMC&pg=PA172&dq=bremo-slave-chapel|title=Fluvanna County|journal=The Virginia Landmarks Register|publisher=University of Virginia Press|location=Charlottesville, Virginia; London|page=172|year=1999|accessdate=December 3, 2010}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:John Hartwell Cocke cropped.png|thumb|140px|left|[[John Hartwell Cocke]]]]
Although John Hartwell Cocke owned slaves at [[Bremo Plantation]], he was opposed to the institution in principle and believed it was his obligation as their master to instruct his slaves and eventually return them to the [[Africa|African continent]]. Cocke first constructed a brick structure on the plantation in 1825 for his slaves, who had been gathering for worship as early as 1821.<ref name="AfricanAmerican-Historic-1994-p500">{{cite book|last=Savage|first=Beth L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjZIkchWX5AC&pg=PA500&dq=bremo-slave-chapel|title=African American Historic Places|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|location=[[New York City]]|pages=500–501|year=1994|accessdate=December 10, 2010}}</ref>

In 1834, Cocke began constructing the schoolhouse-style building and hired a student from [[Princeton Theological Seminary]] to teach his slaves. However, the instructor left by September 1835 because of local [[public outcry]] against teaching slaves. Cocke had been publicly confronted and badly beaten that year for his efforts.<ref name="Slave-Missions-1999-p71">{{cite book|last=Cornelius|first=Janet Duitsman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aGGdyAlobAEC&pg=PA71&dq=bremo|title=Slave Missions and the Black Church in the Antebellum South|publisher=[[University of South Carolina Press]]|location=[[Columbia, South Carolina]]|page=71|year=1999|accessdate=December 10, 2010}}</ref> Teaching [[literacy]] to slaves was illegal at that time in the state.<ref name="Virginia-Black-History-1995-p42" /> Cocke later recruited young Presbyterian minister [[Cortlandt Van Rensselaer|Courtland Van Rensselaer]] to minister to his slaves. Van Rensselaer dedicated the chapel on behalf of the slaves in November 1837.<ref name="Slave-Missions-1999-p71" />

===Post-abolition use===
The chapel was no longer used for some time after the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="Virginia-Black-History-1995-p42" /> John Hartwell Cocke died in 1866 and [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|slavery had been abolished]] by the time the plantation was passed down to his surviving son Cary Charles Cocke.<ref name="AfricanAmerican-Historic-1994-p500" /><ref name="SCRC-CWM-JHC">{{cite web|url=http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/?p=creators/creator&id=332|title=Cocke, John Hartwell (1780-1866)|work=Special Collections Research Center|publisher=[[The College of William & Mary]]|date=November 5, 2009|accessdate=December 10, 2010|archive-date=March 9, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309172220/http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/?p=creators/creator&id=332|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1881, Cary Charles Cocke, William Cocke and Charles E. Cosby purchased land in Bremo Bluff that would become the present site of the chapel. By February 14, 1884, the building had been moved east from Chapel Field in Lower Bremo to the village center of Bremo Bluff, where it was [[consecration|consecrated]] as Grace Church by [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] Bishop Alfred M. Randolph.<ref name="NRHP-Nomination-Bremo-1979">{{cite web|last=Hill|first=Tucker Hill|url=http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Fluvanna/032-0030_Bremo_Slave_Chapel_1980_Final_Nomination.pdf|title=National register of Historic Places inventory – nomination form: Bremo Slave Chapel|publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources|date=December 18, 1979|accessdate=December 10, 2010|archive-date=June 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623101741/http://www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/Counties/Fluvanna/032-0030_Bremo_Slave_Chapel_1980_Final_Nomination.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Services were held at this location until a newer brick church was built in 1924 and the chapel was moved a short distance to the north, where it was severely damaged by a falling tree the following year. After substantial reconstruction, it has since been used as the [[parish hall]].<ref name="Virginia-Black-History-1995-p42" />

==Architecture==
The identity of the architect is uncertain, but is presumed by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to be John Hartwell Cocke. The rectangular brick foundation is arranged in a [[stretcher bond]]. The building measures {{convert|24|ft|5|in|m}} by {{convert|43|ft|4|in|m}}, and is covered by a simple [[gable]] roof with [[slate]] [[roof shingle|shingle]]s and three chimneys.<ref name="NRHP-Nomination-Bremo-1979" /> The exterior walls utilize [[board and batten]] construction.<ref name="Virginia-Landmarks-Register-1999" /> The main entrance on the east side features [[Gothic Revival|Gothic]] double doors; the chapel's [[sash window]]s are similarly arched. The interior includes an auditorium, a sanctuary, and a kitchen in the back. The building underwent significant modification during its move in the late 19th century and a [[vestry]] was added in the 20th century. Brick facing and steps with an iron railing were added to the front of the chapel in 1966.<ref name="NRHP-Nomination-Bremo-1979" />

==See also==
{{portal|Virginia}}
*[[American Colonization Society]]
*[[Bremo Historic District]]

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.aaheritageva.org/search/sites.asp?MailingListID=142 Bremo Slave Chapel] at the Virginia African American Heritage Program
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110408034841/http://www.hallowedground.org/component/option%2Ccom_jthg/theme%2Cregion/task%2Cview/county%2CFluvanna/Itemid%2C1/id%2C66/ Bremo Slave Chapel] at The Journey Through Hallowed Ground

{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia}}{{Slavery in Virginia}}
[[Category:Churches completed in 1835]]
[[Category:19th-century Episcopal church buildings]]
[[Category:Episcopal churches in Virginia]]
[[Category:Carpenter Gothic church buildings in Virginia]]
[[Category:History of slavery in Virginia]]
[[Category:Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Fluvanna County, Virginia]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Fluvanna County, Virginia]]

Bremo Slave Chapel - Revision history

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