Old Wye Church and St. Luke’s Chapel, Wye Parish’s two houses of worship, are faithful expressions of the periods in which they were built.
The history of Wye Parish stretches back to Colonial times. In 1721, Old Wye Church was built to supplement St. Paul’s Church in Centreville as a “chapel of ease” – or convenience – on a small tributary of the Wye River. In the early 20th Century, Old Wye was in disrepair, but was restored in 1947-49 using detailed Vestry notes and drawings from the time of its construction. Today’s congregation and visitors find Old Wye looking as it did when the congregants were English colonists.
St. Luke’s Chapel in Queenstown, built 1839 – 1842, was also originally part of St. Paul’s Parish in Centreville. St. Luke’s Chapel, in contrast to Old Wye’s simple brick structure, was constructed in the picturesque Carpenter Gothic style popular in small towns in the 19th century.
With too many locations for St. Paul’s to manage, Wye Parish, consisting of Old Wye Church and St. Luke’s Chapel, was established with its own vestry in 1859.
Both locations are active places of worship, and Wye Parishioners remain mindful of their churches’ hallowed history – a history told in more detail on our Story page.