Huguenot Houses in Powhatan and Chesterfield Counties

St. Leger

St. Leger, a small cottage on Old Hundred Road, named for the French town of the

same name, was probably built by a member of the Huguenot Flournoy family during the early 1830s.

The house featured a hall-parlor plan with the usual two front windows, but it

originally differed from the standard by 4201 Old Hundred Road

also having two front doors, one opening into the parlor and one into the hall. The right-hand door was replaced by the present nine-over-nine sash window in the nineteenth century. Except for the change in openings, the house survived almost unaltered.

The earliest definitely established owner of St. Leger was Thomas E. Morrissette, a

descendant of the Huguenot settler Pierre Morrissette. He acquired the 200-acre

tract from the John Heth estate in 1845. Morrissette had been an overseer for Heth

and acquired the property in payment for an outstanding debt. The property

continued in the Morrissette family until modern development intervened.

Compiled by Lucille C. Moseley for the 300th Anniversary

Celebrating the Arrival of the Huguenots in Virginia

Huguenot Houses in Powhatan and Chesterfield Counties

Flournoys

South of Falling Creek and Chippenham Parkway in northeastern

Chesterfield in the middle of a broad, flat cultivated field.

Flournoys is the only full two-story dwelling in Chesterfield built in a Huguenot twinfront-

door style. It was built in 1848 by Richard W. Flournoy, a descendant of the

original immigrant Jacob Flournoy. Richard W. Flournoy, who grew up at

Montevideo in the western part of the county, became one of the largest landowners

in the area by the time of the civil war.

The plan of the house is unique. Each of the two equal size main floor rooms is

entered by a separate front door. A single open-standing stair ascends against the

rear wall of the east room. The porch is plainly keyed to the two-room two front door

plan. Rather than entering the porch head-on, as is customary, one enters from

either side.

Compiled by Lucille C. Moseley for the 300th Anniversary

Celebrating the Arrival of the Huguenots in Virginia

Huguenot Houses in Powhatan and Chesterfield Counties

Manakin Episcopal Church

985 Huguenot Trail

After suffering 150 years of persecution for their religious beliefs in France, it was

important to the Huguenots to establish their own Protestant church as soon as

possible after arrival in Virginia. And so that very first year they established a church

in the new King William Parish.

Led by the Reverend Benjamin de Joux, a minister ordained by the Bishop of

London, they built a small octagonal building, probably located near the river

between Bernard's Creek and Norwood Creek. In 1710, a new and probably better

church was built. The last regular minister of Huguenot descent was Jean Cairon,

from 1711-1716. Neighboring ministers served the church, bringing it closer to the

Church of England, and English was used more frequently in the church.

Then by 1730 the colonists had moved out of their village at Manakintowne and were

settled on farms. They decided to build another church at a more central location at

the junction of River Road and the Ferry Road at the cost of 21,600 pounds of

tobacco. This building served the members well for 165 years, but in 1895 the

congregation decided to build again.

This time it was the white frame Victorian church which we see here and is in the

custody of the Society today. No photographs exist for any of the first three church

buildings.

Later, with the coming of modern heating, air conditioning, and electric lights, the

people felt that the small white frame church was inadequate. Therefore, with the

assistance of the Manakin Huguenot Society, a fifth brick church was built with

modern facilities in 1954. Modeled after William Byrd's church at Westover in

Charles City County, it serves as a reminder of the help Byrd gave to the original

settlers of Manakintowne. Today Manakin Church continues to serve the spiritual

needs of the community, as it has for more than 300 years. The 1895 church is owned

by the society and is still functional, with a small pedaled organ.

Compiled by Lucille C. Moseley for the 300th Anniversary

Celebrating the Arrival of the Huguenots in Virginia