Sometimes you can drive past a landmark for years and not really notice it. Then one day you happen to glance at it again and wonder a bit more about the story behind the little white building by the side of the road. In this case it is another one of the small white frame churches you find that hasn’t been demolished to make way for “progress.”
The Sacred Heart Parish first began in 1914 as a congregation made up primarily of Czech and Austrian families living in Manassas. In 1929 part of the congregation left and built the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin on Hoadly Road in Manassas. In 1937 they were able to buy an acre of property and took the beams and windows from the old church and used those as part of the structure of the new Church.
Now 65 years later the small church remains, surrounded by a well kept cemetery where some of the original church members are buried. It is now a chapel of the much larger Sacred Heart Church which is located across Purcell Road in Manassas. The chapel is used every day for mass and is a popular location for weddings due to its history.
Though not as famous as other historic churches in the area it is still a great place to stop and see how our area once looked and the efforts that some take to continue to save Prince William County history.
Related Posts on Historic Churches in Northern Virginia
Cranford Methodist Church
©2008. All rights reserved. Cindy Jones
All original photos taken January 2008
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