VIENNA, Va. — The first and oldest church in Vienna, First Baptist Church of Vienna, was founded on September 1, 1867, more than 20 years before the town's incorporation.

Founded by African American farmworkers George McBrown, Daniel West, and Edmund Harris on land deeded for one dollar by Union Army veteran Major O. E. Hine, the original church building was constructed along Lawyers Road using lumber obtained through the Freedmen's Bureau from a Civil War barracks that was being demolished. The structure served as both a place of worship and a public school for Black children.

In December 1957, First Baptist Church relocated from Lawyers Road NW to 450 Orchard St. NW. Near the original Lawyers Road site, a historical marker notes that the congregation held baptismal services in Hunters Branch from 1923 to 1952. The property, now known as Carter's Glen, was the homestead of Charles Carter, the grandson of a formerly enslaved man.

📸: absolonkent.net/photogallery/index.php?/category/688

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