Woodlawn Friends Meeting House

Woodlawn Friends Meeting House

1851- Present

In 1846, Chalkley Gillingham and his business partners purchased the 2,000-acre Woodlawn plantation property from Washington Family heirs. They relocated from their homes in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York in order to establish a free labor colony on the affordable, lumber rich, lands in the area. Their move was inspired by the fact that George Washington had emancipated his enslaved people in his will, creating an opportunity for the Friends to work cooperatively with the antebellum free Black community to show that farms can be successful without enslaving people. The Quakers continued to live and serve in the community through and after the Civil War.

Woodlawn Friends Meeting History by Martha Caitlin https://woodlawnfriends.org/home/history/

Journal of Chalkley Gillingham: Friend in the Midst of Civil War by Chalkley Gillingham (found in Virginia Room Reference)

8990 Richmond Hwy, Alexandria VA 22309

Mount Vernon