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St. James Episcopal Church
St. James Episcopal Church
Religion
Affiliation	Episcopal Church of the United States
District	Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina
Status	Active
Location
Location	City of Wilmington; North Carolina; United States of America
Geographic coordinates	34°14′7″N 77°56′44″W / 34.23528°N 77.94556°W
Architecture
Architect(s)	John S. Norris, supervising architect (1839-1840); Thomas U. Walter, architect (1839-1840)
Completed	1839
Website
	http://www.stjamesp.org/

St. James Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church in the historic district of Wilmington, North Carolina. The church was originally chartered as part of the Church of England on November 27, 1729,^[2] and is one of the oldest continually active congregations in the state of North Carolina. St. James Parish is part of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina and is the oldest church in the city of Wilmington.^[3] It is a contributing building in the Wilmington Historic District.

History

In 1701, the General Assembly of the colony of Carolina divided the provinces into Parishes and provided for the support of the clergy of the Church of England. Due to the slow development of the Cape Fear region, it was not until November 1729 that the Assembly established St. James Parish: "From the Haul Over between Little and New River Inlett and the Southernmost Boundary of the Province shall be and is hereby appointed a Separate and District parish by the name of St. James..."^[4]

The parishioners of St. James Parish worshipped in the New Hanover County Courthouse for over twenty years before the funds for the first building could be secured. The colonial church was finally open for worship in 1768.^[2]

For the 1839 Church building, New York architect Henry C. Dudley (1813-1894) designed the truss roof in 1871 and the chancel and transept in 1885. Over his lifetime Dudley designed over 180 churches throughout the southern and eastern states.

Church interior

St. James Episcopal Church's oak altar and reredos were carved by Silas McBee, depicting the Nativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus. McBee also designed the Bishop's chair and two of the stained glass windows, including The Resurrection of Christ.

Ecce Homo

A painting of Christ was found in the captain's cabin of the Fortuna by scavengers when being salvaged. The painting turned out to have been done by Spanish artist Francisco Pacheco, and was named Ecce Homo, Latin for Behold the Man. The painting was given to St. James Episcopal Church in 1751, and still resides in the church.^[5]

Notable burials

The historic graveyard at St. James has many notable burials.^[6] These burials include:

Cornelius Harnett, American Revolutionary
George Washington Glover, first husband of Mary Baker Eddy
Grainger & Joshua Wright, Wrightsville Beach was named after their father Joshua Grainger Wright
Robert Strange, Episcopal bishop
Thomas Atkinson, Episcopal bishop
Thomas H. Wright, Episcopal bishop and descendant of the family which owned what is now known as Airlie Gardens which includes the Mount Lebanon Chapel, the oldest church structure in New Hanover County which was commissioned built by his ancestral namesake.
Elizabeth Brice, only daughter of Marmaduke Jones, Esq. who was a member of Royal Governor Arthur Dobbs's Council, and later Attorney General of NC.
Samuel Townsend, Jr., older brother of Robert Townsend, member of the Culper Ring during the American Revolution.

References

^ "Norris, John S. (1804-1876)".
^ ^a ^b Block, Susan Taylor (2004). Temple of our Fathers: St James Church (1729-2004) (1st ed.). ARTSPEAKS. pp. 9, 21, 28. ISBN 0-9761594-0-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
^ "About Us: About: Episcopal Church in Wilmington North Carolina: St. James Parish". Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
^ Saunders, William L. (1886–1890). The Colonial Records of North Carolina ( Raleigh: State of North Carolina, 10 Volumes). I, 572.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ http://www.ecva.org/congregations/features/st_james_wilmington/st_james_wilmington.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2010-08-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)